Protecting What's Yours
by Shuriyaki-San
Summary: Hinata witnesses Naruto's mistreatment at a very young age, and it changes her. How, you ask? Let's just say those who mistreat the blonde will be in for a rude awakening... NaruHina, more info in opening A/N
1. Shaping Young Minds

Hello! Welcome to my new story, Protecting What's Yours! A few things before we get this thing rolling, and please read this, as it may have an impact on your viewing pleasure.  
1\. This will be NaruHina, with _possible_ pairings later if they happen naturally to me. So don't get your hopes up for harems, or other popular pairings that are inserted into naruhina fics (I.E. ShikaTema, SasuSaku, etc.)  
2\. This is starting pre-academy, so the character development will start early, which may cause some differences in the konoha-12  
3\. This is rated M for a reason. There will be lemons later, there will be cursing, and there will be graphic scenes. If you are not prepared for this, I suggest finding another fic to read, god knows there is plenty of NaruHina out there that this little guy won't be a huge loss.  
4\. There will be Sakura bashing, so if you enjoy that character having an impact and not being worthless, you might want to clear out  
5\. I am very busy. Like, VERY busy. And I have a philosophy of not writing unless I am in the mood for it. What I mean by that is that I don't force it in order to have consistent uploads, because I believe it lowers the quality. For anyone that has read my previous works (all 1 completed of them and a few other discontinued ones) I am terribly inconsistent with uploads, and go months at a time without an update. I don't mean to, and I feel bad about it, but I'd rather have the story take a year or two to complete and remain the quality I wish it to be, than get it finished in a few months and have it be subpar. That being said, I'm going to try and write a lot in these periods that I have the fire burning in me, and I'll try to space out the uploads to make it a tad more consistent, in case I hit a writer's block and cease my writing for a bit.  
6\. With that monster out of the way (to those of you who are still left) this will feature a yandere Hinata. To those unfamiliar with the adjective, look it up. It's an interesting concept, and one that I think will change the course of the story quite a bit. Every change besides this one will be an effect from her behavior. Now Hinata won't be yandere to the dot, mind you, just enough of it to make her a bit more…. Protective. And maybe a bit creepy. Trust me, I have some good ideas, and putting my own spin on the concept should yield interesting results.

I try to keep these large A/N's to a minimum, as I don't like boosting the word count, but seeing as how this is chapter 1, I wanted to make sure we're all up to speed on how I like to operate things. So assuming you're still on board with me, let's get this bitch rolling.

* * *

Hyuuga Hinata was, by all definitions of the word, shy. She hated confrontation, she was afraid of contact with others, and hardly a word could ever be heard from the small girl. This very reason was why she was seen as a failure in her clan from a young age. Most of the Hyuuga were proud, strong, and in the face of adversity, spit in it and struck it down, demanding respect. Young Hinata, however, would shun conflict, and cower away from any who would do her harm. It wasn't that she was weak, it was that she was too gentle, too innocent for the shinobi world that she was thrust into. Perhaps, if her mother had lived, she could have taught her daughter how she had conformed, and developed ways to combat the endless hatred and sorrow that battered her equally gentle soul day after day, especially as wife to the clan head of one of the most feared clans in Konoha's history. However, fate could never be so kind, and had taken her mother from her, even as her sister came into being.

It was due to this reason that she was the constant target of bullying by others of her age group, and lack of friends. Being the only Hyuuga that wouldn't stare coldly at any teasing thrown their way, or strike down any attempts at poking or prodding, she was the medium for all the hate and dissent that the younger generations felt towards the haughty clan. Of course, the attacks and biting words didn't come often, as she usually had her caretaker, Ko, with her. Every so often though, she would find herself alone, feeling like a target had been placed on her back. She had learned to hide because of this, to become invisible in crowds and disappear in seemingly open places. She had to, there was no peace otherwise.

Despite this, however, she still occasionally lost focus, dealing with her clan's poor opinion of her, her sister's apparent hatred of her, and her father's constant disappointment of her entire being. This was the reason why, on this particular day, she had ran straight into a group of boys, knocking the leader's ice cream from his hand. They had looked at her in disbelief before dragging her out of the street into a wooded playground, before scowling at her.

"Hey hey!" the older boy began, glaring down at her.

Hinata lowered her stinging eyes, trying to hold her tears back. "I…I'm sorry…" she whispered.

"Hey, isn't she a Hyuuga?" one of the other boys said, moving to get a better look at her.

"Yeah, look at her eyes!" the last one muttered, his eyes narrowing. "Probably a cousin of that Neji…"

"That means they probably have the same personality." The second boy said with distaste in his voice. "People from royal families are all the same…"

Hinata clenched her eyes shut, willing the salty tears threatening to fall to stay put. "I'm….n-not like that…" she whispered weakly, taking a small step backwards. Maybe she could get away…

She turned and ran, but the leader saw and grabbed her before she could take more than 3 steps. He threw her unceremoniously on the ground, crossing his arms.

"Trying to run away before even apologizing? What, are we not good enough for your apologies, Hyuuga?" he said, smirking.

Hinata remained with her head down, feeling weaker than ever before. What could she do? She was surrounded by boys stronger than her, and who hated her by assuming things from her family. Why was the world so cruel…

"I'm s-sorry…" she whispered to the ground, the tears now flowing freely from her eyes.

"You call that an apology?" the leader said angrily, grabbing her head and shoving it to the ground. "Do it properly!"

Hinata gasped a bit from the pain of him pulling her hair, the tears coming thicker now. "I'm sorry…..I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sor-"

"Hey!" a voice rang out, and the leader straightened out to greet their newcomber. "Quit it!"

The three looked over to see a blonde haired boy staring at them angrily with large ocean-blue eyes.

Hinata looked up in shock, what was he doing? Did he bring someone with him to stop these boys? But he appeared to be alone.

"Hey, isn't he _that_ kid?" one of the boys muttered.

"Yeah!" the other said excitedly, "The one no one likes because he's always causing trouble for everyone!"

The leader smirked at the blonde, causing his expression to become more angry. "Yeah, he's THAT kid!"

All three of them laughed boisterously at this, driving the challenger to the end of his patience.

"Shut up!" he yelled, swiping his hand aside in an angry motion, "I'm not a THAT or an IT. The name's Uzumaki Naruto, and I'm going to become Hokage!"

The three bullies exchanced an incredulous look. "Hokage?" they questioned, before laughing loudly at him again. The leader snorted loudly. "There's no way YOU could ever become Hokage!" he said, laughing at the small boy's words. He walked up and punched the boy in the face, knocking him to the ground.

Hinata gasped, looking at her only ally in fear. Had they hurt him? She couldn't bear it if the first person to show her true kindness would only receive payment in the form of pain. She watched in awe as he stood up slowly, wiping his slightly swollen cheek.

The leader's expression darkened at the sight of his defiance. "You looking to fight?" he said angrily, brandishing his fists again.

Naruto smirked at him, "As long as you promise not to cry after!" he exclaimed, before forming a seal with his hands. The boy's backed up slightly, shock in their faces.

"D-does he know jutsu?" one of the boy's asked, fear in his voice.

"Bunshin no…." Naruto began, as Hinata watched on in wonder. Was this boy hiding a hidden strength…?

"JUTSU!" Naruto finished, before a burst of smoke entered the area. After it cleared, the fearful boys laid their eyes on the most pitiful clone they had ever laid eyes on. It was a ghostly white, with a cartoonish appearance, that flopped sadly onto the ground, as the blonde watched it with disappointment in his eyes. They all immediately began laughing again, their hardest yet, as seeing this boy as a threat even momentarily.

Naruto gritted his teeth before launching himself at the leader, knocking him to the ground hard. "You let your guard down!" he yelled at him angrily, driving a fist into the boy's face. The other two looked on in shocked anger as the troublemaker punched their leader again, making him groan.

"I will definitely become Hokage one day, and show up people like you!" he spat, before punching him again. This seemed to spark anger in the other two boys, as they came back to life.

"He's underestimating us!" one yelled, before they each took an arm and slammed him back into the ground.

Hinata watched, forgotten by the trio as they all punched and kicked every part of Naruto they could reach. Blood started welling up from his split lip and cut eyebrow as they mercilessly beat him into the ground. She looked down, despair building strongly from watching her savior pummeled so badly…

"Hinata-sama!" a voice rang out, causing the trio to look up in alarm.

"Oh shit!" the leader swore, pulling the other two as they ran in the opposite direction as Ko came bursting into the park. She saw her eyes rest on her with relief. "Hinata-sama, are you alright?"

She nodded, slowly getting to her feet. Ko's eyes left her and settled on Naruto's still form, becoming cold.

"Hinata-sama, let's get you back to the compound." He said , grabbing her hand.

"B-but…that boy!" she said, panic in her voice. They had to find him help, he looked badly hurt…

"Don't concern yourself with that boy, Hinata-sama." Ko said, looking at her closely. "Now come on."

"But…." She whispered, allowing herself to be dragged along. She looked back, seeing he still wasn't moving.

'Naruto…'

She lay in bed later than night, staring at her ceiling. Why had that boy come to help her? He hadn't known her, and by the way Ko looked at him, guessed he wasn't on good terms with the Hyuuga clan. So why?

She turned to her side, her young mind making no sense of the scenario. He said he would be Hokage…yet was laughed at. Even so, he had still stood, defiance in his eyes, as he exclaimed that he would be no matter what, and show people like those boys that he could. Such strength and courage…she wished she could be like him. She had to find his secret….maybe then she could find it in herself to beat her dear sister, whom she was always afraid of harming in their spars. Maybe she could make her father proud, maybe she could bring pride to the Hyuuga name and stop being an outcast…

She had to follow him.

 _ **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**_

In the following weeks, Hinata slipped away from Ko several times once they spotted the spiky haired youth on the streets to follow him. What she saw made her sad and confused at the same time. She had watched as he was thrown from shops, driven from streets, and yelled at constantly. People shouted 'demon' and 'scum' at him, even though he always seemed so shy and scared…

She winced at his latest attempt to pay for a new shirt, since his was dirty and worn, and was tossed from the establishment onto his face.

"AND STAY OUT, YOU FILTHY DEMON!" the man spat at the boy, who was getting painfully to his feet. She watched his expression turn defiant, before turning angrily at the man.

"FINE, WHO'D WANT TO SHOP AT YOUR SMELLY OLD PLACE ANYWAY!" he shouted, "WHEN I'M HOKAGE I'LL MAKE SURE IT GETS TORN TO THE GROUND!"

He started running away, and Hinata swore she saw a few tears drop to the ground in his wake. She silently followed him, making sure to keep her head down so no one saw her eyes and question what she was doing in that particular part of town so far from her compound.

After sneaking for some time, she came to a dead end, and a pit of sadness began to form in her stomach at the absence of Naruto. 'He disappeared…' she thought, wanting to comfort him. She couldn't figure out why everyone was so terrible to him, besides maybe the pranks.

'But…' she thought idly, 'that wouldn't make everyone be THAT mean to him…'

She was about to start the journey back to her home when she heard a small sob come from the end of the alley. She turned around, and saw that there was a little crevice in the wall she looked over, and judging by the sounds she was now paying rapt attention to, was the hiding place of one Uzumaki Naruto.

She swallowed, steeling herself to go and introduce herself to him and offer some sympathy, when she heard voices behind her.

"I think he came this way!"

"Hokage-sama is busy with council affairs today I heard, would be the perfect time to finally put an end to the abomination…"

"….don't know why he's so protective of it…..senile in his old age…."

Hinata's breath stopped as her eyes darted too and fro, looking for a hiding spot. Spotting a large blanket on a clothes line, she ripped it down and threw it over herself and a section of fence, crouching down and making sure she had a small space to watch the scene evolving before her.

Naruto must have heard the noises too, because she saw him straighten out from his hiding place, wiping his eyes hurriedly, looking around for a way out. Seeing none, he darted back to his little cubby hole, curling into a ball and holding his breath. Hinata listened as the voices grew louder, eventually seeing a few villagers, including the shop owner that had recently thrown Naruto out, searching all over the alleyway for the blonde child.

"Feh, he must have ducked down a different alley…wait a minute!" one villager yelled, reaching down and coming up with a trembling Naruto. "I FOUND THE BLOODY DEMON!"

A roar of approval greeted him as the others in their group came running up, offering him congratulations while looking at the child with malice in their eyes.

Hinata watched in terror as the tears started spilling from his eyes again, forming rivers of sorrow on his shaking face.

"P-please…." He said, fear leaking into his voice. "I'm sorry…I won't e-ever come to your sh-shop again….please l-leave me alone…" Hinata could feel her small heart breaking with every word he said. "please don't h-hurt me…."

The shop owner threw the young boy to the ground before stomping on his stomach, elicting a gasp of pain from him. "You demon brat, you think that those tears will deceive us? You sicken me, trying to take the guise of a child to escape retribution….WE WON'T BE TRICKED, WILL WE MEN?"

Another roar of approval came from the crowd as they took it in turns to strike the small boy. Hinata watched on in horror as they stomped, kicked, punched, pounded, and threw the small blonde to and fro, breaking limbs and shattering cartilage. Time seemed to have no meaning once they pulled out weapons, and started cutting him, breaking his small body. She couldn't believe it. This was too much. Why…..why….why…..why…..why….

She repeated this to herself for over an hour, even after the group had left the barely recognizable form of Naruto bloody and broken on the ground. She barely registered the cries of "HINATA-SAMAAA!" as Ko attempted to find her. When he did, with the assistance of the Byakugan, he was horrified by what he found.

She was staring. Staring at the broken body of the Kyuubi. He cringed to think what Hiashi would do to him if he found out.

"Hinata-sama, we have to go back now, come, nobody is going to hurt you."

She didn't move. Her eyes were still fixed on the boy's unmoving form. "why…..why…..why….." she kept muttering to herself over and over. She couldn't think. It was too much for her to handle.

Ko placed a hand on her shoulder and she jerked violently away from him, hot tears spilling down her face. He got down on one knee and offered her his hand. "Hinata-sama, it's only me. Let's get you home, come on."

She shook her head slowly, looking back at Naruto. "Why…..why…..would th-they do this to him?" she said, breaking away from her chant.

Ko's eyes hardened as he looked at Naruto, resentment hidden in his eyes. While he approved of the actions, he didn't approve of doing so within sight or earshot of others.

"Don't you worry about him, he'll only bring trouble. Let's get ho-"

"why would anyone do this." She repeated, her small form shaking. "He didn't d-do anything….he….hasn't d-d-done anything…."

Ko sighed, knowing that this slip up would have lasting damage on the girl's psych. Maybe he should take her to a Yamanaka…

He picked up her trembling frame, holding her close to his chest, before turning his back on the boy. Her eyes snapped to his, horrified.

"No…we need to help him…" she said, a panic taking hold of her. "We need to help him! WE NEED TO HELP HIM!"

Ko looked incredulously at the girl in his arms. If only she knew…

"Hinata-sama." He said firmly, giving her a stern look. "Do not concern yourself with that boy. Please listen to my advice, it will do no good to-"

"WE HAVE TO HELP HIM!" she screamed, as she started flailing. He would die, she was sure of it. "WE HAVE TO HELP HIM KO WE HAVE TO!"

Ko adopted a stoic look before jabbing Hinata in the neck, causing her to lose consciousness. "I'm sorry Hinata-sama….but it's for your own good."

He leaped off, leaving the body to stain the ground below it in blood.

 _ **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**_

Nightmares of the boy being killed in front of her plagued the young Hyuuga for weeks, causing her to become even more withdrawn than usual. She wouldn't leave her room except for sparring or meals, and refused to go outside. She had even stopped opening up to the closest person to a friend she had; her caretaker, Ko. She felt betrayed, since when did killing someone, especially a kid like herself, become ok? Why had no one helped him? Why had the one person who showed her kindness by helping her, a nobody, been chosen to die like that? And the one person she thought she could rely on, turned away from him, despite her pleas.

She turned over in her bed, a haunting look on her face. She couldn't stop seeing him…his broken form lying meters away, while she looked on and did nothing….her savior, Naruto, being cut before her eyes….

They had sliced 'DEMON' into his small chest, amongst other words like 'MONSTER' and 'MURDERER' into other various parts of his body. She listened to him beg, scream in pain, plead to be let go, scream more, pass out…reawaken and the cycle would begin again. There was no escape for either of them.

She heard footsteps outside her door, but she didn't react to them.

"Hinata-sama…" she heard the low voice of Ko outside her door. "Your father has mandated me to take you outside to get some fresh air. I'll give you some time to get ready, but please be cooperative." He said, before she heard him move away. Her father had ordered him to take her outside….

She got to her feet slowly. She couldn't go with Ko. It would just reawaken her questions and feelings of betrayal. She threw some clothes on and climbed out her window, making her way as quickly as possible along the halls of the compound before coming to the fence. She climbed it awkwardly before making her way to the center of the village, where she could hide herself among the crowds of people. Even though Ko could find her easily with his dojutsu, she wanted to make the effort of hiding first.

She wandered aimlessly through the streets, making sure to keep to the outskirts of the streets so as to not draw any attention to herself. She wandered for about 15 minutes, and had nearly made the decision to go back when she heard a familiar voice.

"Please….I just wanted to find s-something to eat…I'm sorry…."

She froze, her head whipping around towards the sound. It was coming from behind that fence….

She sprinted to the corner and peeked her head around to see the blonde boy with his head down as a villager yelled at him to get away from his restaurant.

He was….alive? But how? No one was coming….no one helped him….how….?

The man struck Naruto on the head, sending him sprawling to the ground with a yell of pain, and Hinata found herself beside herself with anger. Why did everyone treat this kind boy like garbage? Like something disgusting? She couldn't stand it….

"Hinata-sama!" She heard from behind her, and turned to see Ko approaching.

"Hinata-sama." He said reproachfully, "You know that sneaking out of the compound and walking the streets alone is unbefitting of the title of Heiress to the Hyuuga clan."

"Ko-san, Naruto-kun is ok!" she said happily, before her expression dropped. She looked distant and upset now, looking down at her feet. "…not that you'd care…."

Ko's face twisted in surprise. He had never heard Hinata address anyone like that, knowing the girl to be shy and withdrawn. But it seemed like she was almost begging him to contradict her words.

"Let's get back to the compound." He said, taking her hand. She didn't argue, but looked back to see the name of the shop that had just mistreated the gentle boy.

If no one else was going to help him, she would. As much as she could from the sidelines. He represented all that she wanted to be; selfless, courageous, kind…the list went on.

After she got scolded by her father and dismissed for wandering Konoha on her own, she went back to her room and got her training clothes together. She had never felt such a need to train before, but it wasn't to make her father proud, or gain the respect of those in her clan. She needed to train for him. She needed to train for Naruto, so that one day, she could repay him, and help him when he needed it. The next time someone threatened his life, she would be beside him instead of hiding from it.

 _ **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**_

For the next year and a half, before the academy started, Hinata trained herself with a single minded determination. Her clansmen watched her now with an approving eye, as she trained hard and long each day. Her father even gave her praise during one sparring session with her younger sister, although she fought only to a draw now. While many thought Hanabi stronger, but now on par with the heiress, the truth was that Hinata couldn't bring herself to harm her sister. While this still held true, gone were the wants to make her sister feel stronger by letting her be beaten. To do so would be an insult to the boy who put his safety on the line to help her, only for her to throw it away at the hands of her sibling, who had the cold gaze of her father.

She also snuck out of the compound regularly, following the blonde throughout the village. While she appreciated the hard work he put in during training, she resented what often came afterwords. He would wander the village, rummaging for food or clothes or old ninja equipment to train with. She remembered every place that did him wrong, however, and reported tearfully to Ko that she had gone into their shops asking for help and was thrown out harshly due to silent prejudices against their clan. She got several shops shut down this way, and was pleased to see that Naruto also took a small amount of pleasure in seeing the places that shunned him closed up soon after his mistreatment.

Before she knew it, it was finally time for her to report to the academy. She wished she had known Naruto's age; she might have been able to get into the same class as him if he was coming this year...

She felt ready as she stepped through the doors of her new classroom, immediately making a beeline for the back of the class, keeping her eyes down the whole time. There were a lot of people in here, and most of them were really loud. There was a boy with a puppy that was shouting about how cool his dog was, a chubby boy who was eating chips rather loudly, and two girls who were shouting about how cool some black haired boy was.

She took out a notebook and pencil and was looking around nervously, when she saw it. Her defender walked in, a huge grin on his face that she mirrored, albeit a little more subtle. The class quieted down upon seeing him, and she saw his smile falter, as he made his way to a desk and sat down.

"Hey, isn't he that boy that graffiti's all over town?"

"Oh I know him, my mom told me to stay away from him."

"I heard he's a real pain in the butt…better keep away…."

Hinata grit her teeth at the whispers that were none too subtle; she was sure Naruto could hear them too. But it looked like he wasn't letting it affect him. He walked up to the pink haired girl who gave him a look of disgust.

"Hey hey, what's your name?" he asked brightly, hands behind his head.

"Sakura." She said, obviously willing him to go away.

"That's a pretty name!" he said brightly, raising his hand to shake hers. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, wanna be friends?"

She scoffed at him. "Who would want to be friends with you? Especially with someone like Sasuke-kun right in front of us!" she exclaimed lovingly, before turning around and continuing to fawn over the brooding boy.

Hinata narrowed her eyes at the girl. Who was she, to talk so heartlessly to someone so good….

"Yeah?" Naruto said irritably, his smile gone. "I bet that guy isn't even that great. Sounds like a real pain to me…"

Sakura rounded on him, punching the top of his head. "How dare you speak about Sasuke-kun like that! He's better than you'll ever be you….you…."

Sakura shivered as she felt an icy glare on herself, but when she looked around the room found no one looking in her direction. 'What…was that…' she thought.

Hinata had caught herself at the last minute looking at the pinkette as if she were about to throttle her, and had turned away in time to avoid her searching gaze. 'I hate that girl….' She thought darkly.

Everyone quieted down as their teacher came into the room, a brown haired man with a scar across his nose and the Konoha headband tied tightly around his head, signifying him as a registered shinobi of the village.

"Welcome, welcome!" he said warmly, watching as the last few students, including Naruto, took their seats. "I am glad to see that you, like many others, are pursuing the path of the shinobi, in order to protect the village. Although you are young, we will be honing your skills to make you a deadly warrior of Konoha."

"Hey hey how about we get to the training then!" Naruto said loudly from his seat, earning him a few annoyed glares from the students around him. Hinata watched him ignore these looks, looking determinedly ahead. "I need to train as much as possible to become Hokage, y'know?"

Their teacher looked at him with annoyance. "If that's your goal, then I suggest you learn patience Naruto, because the Hokage must also hold himself with respect and manners."

Naruto looked away, a frown on his face. Hinata frowned as well. Wanting to get right into training wasn't a bad thing, and Naruto did everyday with a hard conviction. He was wasting Naruto's time with this lecture….

He continued with it however, introducing himself as Iruka, a chunin that would be assisting them throughout their time in the academy. He told them how lessons would play out, their general schedule for different topics, and how training would go.

"Any questions?" he said, finishing his lecture. When no one answered he smiled. "Good, then let's get to work!"

* * *

I like how this turned out, personally. Next chapter expect more academy time, and some introductions to different relationships. Hopefully it gets out soon, but we'll see. Any feedback, positive or negative, is greatly appreciated, and helps me keep things consistent. I'm not perfect after all. See you guys next time.


	2. True Strength

Ok, keep in mind this particular section of the A/N is coming a day after I released the first chapter, and I don't know if it was an isolated incident, but it's fuckin rant time.

I DO NOT, under ANY circumstances, tolerate blatant flaming. It serves NO purpose whatsoever, except to demoralize and discourage writers. It is a huge issue that has been talked about for a long time on FF, and they've done a good job on making it manageable. That being said, I (as well as most FF writers, I like to think) have no problem AT ALL with constructive criticism. You see something wrong? Tell me. You see a continuity error, or a blatant grammar problem? I'll be happy to fix it. Even if you're so angry at something you think is fucking stupid, you can PM me. I keep them open in options, and when I'm actively writing, I make it a point to answer Every. Single. One. No fucking joke. I've heard of writers who blatantly ignore their readers' attempts to ask them questions, or give them advice, or even just try to start a conversation, and that infuriates me to no end as well. If you guys take the time to send me a message for whatever reason, on top of reading my little tale that I put my heart and soul into, I will more than gladly take the time to PM you back. So if you're mad at some shit, either put it in a review, in a fucking civilized manner, or PM me your hate speech, so I can let you either know my mentality towards whatever has irked you, or tell you to fuck right off. No hiding behind your guest reviews bullshit.

Fuck.

Ok rant over. But really, I want this story, and every story I write, to be as good as possible. You guys help make it happen. But yelling about how Sakura wasn't this _exact way_ in canon, and then calling me a fag doesn't help, it just ticks me off.

This part of the A/N is being written as this chapter is releasing a week after ch. 1. Thanks to all the people who put forth positive reviews; it keeps me going. I'm thinking I'm gonna be updating about once a week, however next week might be the last for a month, as my ship is going underway for about a month and a half. I'll try and make it fairly large, or do a double update to compensate, but I'll address it more then. Anyway, hope you guys like this next chapter.

* * *

 _"Welcome, welcome!" he said warmly, watching as the last few students, including Naruto, took their seats. "I am glad to see that you, like many others, are pursuing the path of the shinobi, in order to protect the village. Although you are young, we will be honing your skills to make you a deadly warrior of Konoha."_

 _"Hey hey how about we get to the training then!" Naruto said loudly from his seat, earning him a few annoyed glares from the students around him. Hinata watched him ignore these looks, looking determinedly ahead. "I need to train as much as possible to become Hokage, y'know?"_

 _Their teacher looked at him with annoyance. "If that's your goal, then I suggest you learn patience Naruto, because the Hokage must also hold himself with respect and manners."_

 _Naruto looked away, a frown on his face. Hinata frowned as well. Wanting to get right into training wasn't a bad thing, and Naruto did everyday with a hard conviction. He was wasting Naruto's time with this lecture…._

 _He continued with it however, introducing himself as Iruka, a chunin that would be assisting them throughout their time in the academy. He told them how lessons would play out, their general schedule for different topics, and how training would go._

 _"Any questions?" he said, finishing his lecture. When no one answered he smiled. "Good, then let's get to work!"_

* * *

It had been roughly two months since their time at the academy started, and Naruto was irritated to no end. They had yet to start any practice; the starting weeks at the academy was mainly devoted to theory and the history of the shinobi world. It seemed, however, that his prayers for a more hands-on environment were being answered after a particularly dull Tuesday when Iruka announced that they would begin weapons handling and taijutsu katas the next day. Naruto remembered with a pang that he had never been able to practice using the various shinobi tools, as he had never been able to get his hands on a proper set. Any attempts to use second hand ones that had been discarded always ended with the weapons not behaving properly, which was most likely the reason he had found them in the trash.

Naruto kicked a rock out of his path as he made his way to a secluded training ground he had found at a very young age, where he did most of his practicing. It was heavily wooded with a large clearing at the center, and since he didn't have any techniques that required a particularly large amount of space, he often opted to stay in the woods, just in case a team showed up. He found his own personal clearing, large enough to fit a handful of people, and started beating on a small tree intensely. He didn't have any particular style since he had no clan and no one to help him prepare for his academy life, so he had made his own. He figured that the academy would teach him the basic style they taught to all beginning shinobi, and he hoped to meld his style in with it, to make it a tad more comfortable for him.

Unbeknownst to him, pale eyes watched his every strike with admiration glowing in them. Hinata knew of his training area, of course; she had followed him to it many times. She watched the blonde begin to sweat as his fists repeatedly struck the wood, crushing the bark over and over. Her eyebrows knit together as he very sloppily followed his right hook with a roundhouse, almost losing his balance in the process. He obviously didn't know a proper fighting technique, and she had heard her father criticizing the academy's technique on several occasions, stating that not only was it a waste of time, it was dangerous to teach the new shinobi such an elementary fighting style while relying on the genin's future sensei to teach them a worthwhile style.

Hinata sat down in her hiding spot, thinking hard. She couldn't teach him the Gentle Fist, of course. He didn't have the Byakugan to help him spot the chakra circulatory system present in a shinobi, and the blows weren't hard enough to warrant the style without it's chakra crippling effects. She supposed there might be a style or two in the library that he could learn…

Standing up with determination in her eyes, she watched as Naruto kicked up the trunk three times in rapid succession, eyes lighting up in satisfaction as the bark flew off the tree with a satisfying crunch.

'Don't worry Naruto-kun.' She thought, as she stealthily made her way to Konoha's library. 'I'll make sure to find you the perfect fighting style…'

 ** _OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO_**

Naruto yawned as he made his way into the classroom, trudging to his seat without the usual enthusiasm he was known for. He had spent the rest of the day practicing his taijutsu, and woken up early to get a good workout in as well as another short session to make sure he was fresh, even though they were only going over the basic katas. Now that the little bit of adrenaline he had from working himself hard had worn off, however, he wished that he had gotten just a bit more sleep.

He plopped down at his desk, yawning again, before closing his eyes and letting his head fall forward, meaning to rest it on the cool wooden surface. He paused when it settled on a roll of paper, making a crease in his forehead. He opened his eyes, annoyed, and found a scroll sitting there. He furrowed his eyebrows, confused. Where had this come from? He glanced around, making sure he was in the right seat, before returning his eyes to the foreign object. Strange…

He shrugged before opening it, allowing his eyes to skim the paper. His eyes widened; these were….kata. Of a proper fighting form. His eyes slid across the paper hungrily, drinking in the sight of the techniques in the scroll. It looked to be a style that favored aggression, and kept attacks flowing smoothly, closing any openings that might be formed in the middle of combat by utilizing each and every ligament as a deadly weapon. Naruto noted that this was what he had attempted to do, but as he scanned the pictures and read the words that explained them below, his face broke out into a wide grin. He had never thought of some of these combos before, but they made sense. He was always intent on hitting his opponents with his fists or feet, the most able weapons of the body, but this style had him constantly utilizing his knees and elbows as well. His hands shook with silent excitement and he silently thanked whoever had left this godsend on his desk.

As Hinata watched his face light up like a Christmas tree upon seeing the contents of the scroll she had found, she smiled just as widely as he did while her heart sang happily. She had spent 6 hours browsing the library to find a perfect style for Naruto, taking into account his aggressive nature and boldness. She had been delighted to find one to fit her exact needs, and had taken it from the library, dropping a large amount of Ryo on the librarian's desk in compensation for the scroll that would never return. She knew that he would tackle the scroll as hard as anything before, and hoped he would have it down by next week when they were expected to start sparring against one another for practice.

The lessons seemed to fly by for Naruto, his thoughts focused solely on his new prized possession. He barely paid attention to the academy's katas, and while he performed them (with a little scolding from Iruka) he had no intention of remembering them at all. As soon as the class was released with instructions to continue practicing their taijutsu and weapons training, Naruto sped off like a bullet to his training field, before plopping down and going over the scroll again. He studied it for a bit before standing up and slowly going through the katas, glancing down at the scroll every time he forgot where he was. He did this for a good half an hour before feeling somewhat comfortable, and turning to a new tree. He took a deep breath before settling down into the style's basic stance; his dominant foot and arm forward, while shifting his weight to and from his front and back leg. This was supposed to allow him to react better to attacks, but it just felt awkward to him to constantly be shifting his weight. He continued to attempt it though, and started slowly attacking the trunk with light hits, getting a feel for the style. It was certainly more fluid than his botchy self-made one, maintaining a constant pounding of flesh on wood. He began to get more confident, throwing a particularly hard elbow after a left jab and…

"SONOVA-" Naruto cried out, an unmistakable crunch letting him know he had just broken his elbow to some extent. Luckily for a certain bluenette, his cry of pain had masked hers of surprise and panic at seeing the blonde injure himself. Naruto grit his teeth painfully as he sat down, gently laying his arm across his legs. He had forgotten one very important thing about training new parts of your body; everything was brittle unless it was worked up. Usually one would reinforce their limbs with chakra, slowly diminishing the amount used while callouses formed and bone hardened, before they were able to strike hard objects without fear of harming themselves. Naruto, never having a unique fighting style before, had never thought about reinforcing his elbows and knees. While the soft hits weren't anything to fear, he had gotten overzealous and struck the trunk too hard. He laid back on the grass slowly, closing his eyes as the pain started to dull. Wounds never seemed to stick around for long, especially if he took a nap. He could be back at it in no time…

Hinata watched as the blonde laid on the grass slowly, before his ragged breathing turned slow and rhythmic. He was napping? Instead of going to a hospital, or to Iruka? She didn't completely understand, but she knew she could help. She knew how to make a basic splint, and was determined to help her Naruto-kun continue his training. He had been so excited about trying the new fighting style, and she would be damned if he didn't get to continue with it as soon as possible. She grabbed a few sturdy chunks of bark from a healthy looking tree before making her way to the prone boy. She slowly bent down, face flushing with red from the close proximity of the source of her admiration. It would be so easy to just lay next to him and doze off….

She shook her head violently, this wasn't the time for self-indulgence, not when Naruto-kun needed her. She took a closer look at the offending arm, hoping that the swelling wasn't too bad for her attempt to help him. Upon close inspection though, she noted a distinct lack of said swelling. Shrugging, she gingerly pressed her fingers to his elbow, meaning to slowly push his forearm to extend his arm, so as to set the splint properly.

Except, the elbow had no shards or lumps or anything.

It felt completely normal.

Stunned, she activated her Byakugan, and looking at the bone found it fully mended. She briefly noted a small amount of red chakra in his belly before it disappeared, confusing her further. 'Red chakra…?' she thought, not recalling any instance when chakra would be any other color than blue.

A sudden snort brought her crashing back down to earth, and her eyes snapped to Naruto's sleeping face. His nose twitched, and his hand came up to scratch it. Except that her arm was in the way and his arm contacted hers. She forced a good amount of chakra into her legs and leaping into a tree. As if in slow motion, her coat had cleared the tree line just as, Naruto sat bolt upright, his head turning rapidly. She waited with bated breath as he peered all around him, on alert for possible threats. After a minute, she saw his shoulders shrug, before he gripped his elbow, bending his arm to test it.

"Ahh, good as new!" he said happily, getting to his feet. "Not making that mistake again though…"

Hinata watched as he began his training anew, taking much more care this time.

'How did his elbow heal like that? It looks like it was never hurt…' she thought, watching as the very same elbow contacted the tree with a dull thud. 'Maybe it's the same reason why he was fine after…..that….'

She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. It was just another mystery surrounding her precious Naruto-kun, one that she hoped to – at some point – unravel.

 ** _OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO_**

The rest of the week went by uneventfully – that is, if you could consider the various antics of the relatively new class 'normal'. Naruto continued to train day in and out in his new taijutsu form, finding that he was conforming to it rapidly, probably due to the extreme likeness to his shoddy original form, albeit with a good bit more duress and flexibility. Likewise, Hinata had decided to train more in lieu of following the blonde around. She knew how much he valued strength, and the will to succeed, and, hoping silently for him to acknowledge her during the various sparring matches that would be taking place, had taken to her training with a new ferocity, earning her a rare praise from her normally stoic father.

They got Sundays off normally; the academy realizing long ago that training 7-11 year olds every single day could do more harm than good, and this Sunday was no different. Naruto sprawled out in the grass after a particularly intense workout, sighing in satisfaction.

"There's no way I can lose tomorrow." He said aloud to no one, a small grin coming to his face. "I will definitely make someone acknowledge me…"

A loud grumbling met his ears and he kicked up before beginning his journey to Ichiraku. Naruto could safely say that besides the Hokage, the ramen stand's two workers were the only ones to openly show him kindness. He considered the person to leave behind his beloved scroll friendly as well, even though it was probably left by mistake. Even so, it had helped him in training greatly, and he hoped he got the chance to let the nameless person know one day.

As Naruto walked into the stand, he noticed Iruka was eating there as well. He smiled brightly, taking a seat next to his oblivious instructor.

"Hiya, Iruka-sensei!" the blonde said jovially, chuckling a bit when Iruka choked on his noodles.

"N-Naruto!" Iruka coughed out, before taking a drink of water, washing everything down. "You shouldn't sneak up on people like that when they're eating!"

Naruto scratched the back of his, offering an apologetic grin. "Ehe, sorry Iruka-sensei, I'll remember next time."

Iruka nodded, offering the boy a tight smile. He turned back to his noodles, eyeing the broth within. 'He isn't the fox Iruka, Hokage-sama had this discussion with you before you started teaching him. Focus on the boy, not the prisoner. Focus on the boy…'

"Hey, Iruka-sensei, are you alright?" Naruto said, a bit of worry in his face. "I-if you want, I can go…."

Iruka looked quickly at Naruto, noticing the fear of rejection in his eyes. They reminded him of his own….

He offered the boy his first true smile, despite being a tad hesitant to do so. In a sense, he had been in the same boat as Naruto; the only difference being that he didn't have to endure the hatred of the entire village.

"No, why don't you sit down and have a bowl on me?" he offered, giving the small boy a ruffle of his hair. Naruto's face lit up instantly, his eyes brimming with unshed tears. This was the second act of kindness he had received in a week. Although the scroll was only considered one due to the lack of general goodness in his life, this was unmistakable. He plunged his head into Iruka's stomach, holding the man around the middle tightly and willing back the sobs that wanted to surface.

Iruka sat stunned for a moment, before resting a hand on the boy's shoulder. He shuddered to think what the child went through to be acting this strongly for one bowl of ramen…

After Naruto separated from the older man, he took his seat, wiping his eyes furiously.

"O-one bowl of miso pork please old man!" he called, his voice being exceptionally bright. He saw Teuchi stick his head out of the curtains that hid the back of the stand from view, and smiled brightly at the welcoming grin he received.

"Of course of course! Can't have my best customer going hungry, can I?" he chuckled, getting to his duties.

Iruka turned to Naruto when he'd finished eating, taking another gulp of his water. "So Naruto, how do you feel you're getting along at the Academy?"

Naruto smiled a little too brightly for his liking. "It's great! I get to train and study and talk to the other kids and…" he trailed off, his smile seeming a bit off.

Iruka frowned. "Excuse me for saying Naruto, but I've never seen any kids talking to you."

Naruto gulped, looking slightly downtrodden. "Well, I didn't say they said anything back…they usually just ignore me, but sometimes they glare…"

Iruka's face contorted into something akin to pained understanding. When he had first showed up to his classes, not only had he acted out, but no one really seemed to want to be his friend, thinking it would be weird to hang out with an orphan, despite the countless shinobi that had been killed, leaving behind many kids without parents.

Iruka drained the rest of his glass, thinking carefully. "Naruto." He said seriously, making the blonde look up, distracted from his lapse into self-pity. "Can you think of anyone that doesn't glare at you? Or perhaps, anyone that doesn't treat you differently from the rest?"

Naruto blinked before looking thoughtful. "Well, Shikamaru doesn't glare at me…..Chouji doesn't either….or Kiba….Shino doesn't talk much to anyone, but he doesn't treat me bad…Sasuke kind of ignores everyone…..other than that everyone just glares at me." He said sheepishly, before his eyes lit up in remembrance. "Oh! And Hinata doesn't glare at me either, but she does treat me differently…"

"How so?" Iruka said, raising an eyebrow. He hadn't paid much attention to their specific interaction the beginning weeks of class, as he had been trying to gauge everyone's levels to schedule the proper training to help them grow.

Naruto scratched his head in obvious confusion. "Well, whenever I'm near her she gets all red and starts messing with her fingers like this." He pushed his index fingers together. "And she's always stuttering and never really looks at me, y'know? She can talk normally to anyone else for the most part, but she gets really weird with me…." He paused, his face scrunched up in puzzlement. "I don't think she hates me though. She never glares at me or picks on me or anything. But she doesn't act normally around me…I don't understand it."

Iruka smiled knowingly. So THAT was it, huh? "I think that you should pursue friendships with all the people you just mentioned, Naruto." He said.

"Even Sasuke?" Naruto said worriedly, showing his anxiety to the teacher. "And Hinata?"

"Especially those two." Iruka said, offering the boy an encouraging smile. "Think for a moment. Who else do those two talk to?"

Naruto blinked. "No one, really…"

"And don't the others normally talk amongst themselves?"

Naruto nodded silently.

"Then maybe those two are feelings the same loneliness you feel, and are also too anxious to make any moves. You may not find it likely, but it's always a possibility Naruto." Iruka said kindly, before patting the boy on the head.

Naruto nodded, a warm smile on his face at the prospect of possible friends. "I'll be sure to talk to them! Thank you Iruka-sensei." The man nodded, shifting himself to get up.

"Wait wait!" Naruto exclaimed, holding his hands up in panic. "There was something I wanted to ask you!"

Iruka rose an eyebrow. "What is it?"

Naruto smiled lightly, scratching the back of his head again. It was quickly becoming a habit. "When we spar, we can use our own taijutsu, right? We don't have to use the Academy techniques?"

Iruka laughed. "Of course you can. The Academy technique is a stepping stone for those who weren't raised in ninja families, and help you learn the basics of taijutsu. But Naruto," he said questioningly, "Are you saying you have your own form?"

Naruto smiled largely, nodding in excitement. "Yeah yeah! I always trained with my own kind of style but then a scroll appeared one day on my desk and I looked through it and it had this AWESOME style on it and I've been practicing it every day and I want to try it so bad I can't wait for tomorrow!" he finished. Iruka took a second to process what the blonde said – he had talked very rapidly – and gave the boy and amused look when everything had registered.

"Well I hope that you do well Naruto." He said. "If you perform well, you might get a few people to recognize you for that as well. Maybe even ask you for tips, which can help you start to make friends."

Naruto nodded again, his face hurting slightly from smiling so much today. But he couldn't help it, and wouldn't trade the feeling for anything in the world. "I'll do my absolute best!"

Iruka nodded, giving the blonde a thumbs up. Tomorrow would be interesting for sure.

 _ **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**_

Naruto watched impatiently as nearly everyone in the class got a sparring match before him. Excitedly though, he noticed there were only a few people left. Himself, Hinata, Sakura, and Sasuke. He looked expectantly at Iruka as he cleared his throat, announcing the next match.

"Haruno Sakura against Hyuuga Hinata." He stated clearly.

Naruto groaned slightly, more than eager to fight. He still managed a smile though; he would fight Sasuke.

The pinkette and bluenette went to their respective sides of the sparring circle, facing each other expectantly. The former quickly looked at Sasuke and waved, trying to smile cutely at him.

"I'll win for you Sasuke-kun!" she said unabashedly. Sasuke scoffed and turned his head, gazing into the woods steadily. Sakura turned back to Hinata slowly, looking sulky. Naruto's voice rang through the crowd. "You'll do great Sakura-chan!" he called, hoping to win points with the girl by showing her support when the Uchiha shunned it.

Sakura whirled around, glaring at Naruto. "I never asked for _your_ support." She said bitterly, turning back to Hinata. She flinched as she noticed the shy girl's eyes. Normally, they were shy, and downcast. She had never expected the Hyuuga heiress to have a gaze so cold and intimidating. She gulped and settled uncertainly into her taijutsu stance.

"Begin!" Iruka yelled. It was over in an instant. Mere moments after he announced the start of the spar, Sakura had doubled over with Hinata's palm wedged into her gut, expelling all the air from her lungs. She fell to her knees as the onlookers gasped in shock. They had never seen the young girl move that fast, or be that ruthless.

"He was only trying to encourage you." Hinata hissed in her ear. She was so tired of Naruto being trodden on for trying to be a good person. It made her sick.

"WOW HINATA! THAT WAS AMAZING!"

Hinata's face flushed bright red as she registered the blonde's words of praise. She ducked her head, pushing her index fingers together as Naruto ran up to her, looking down sympathetically at Sakura.

"Need a hand?" he said, holding his hand out to her. She looked up in anger, slapping his hand away. She had never felt so humiliated, and just because she had spurned his advances? Her parents had told her explicitly that he was a bad youth, and to not associate with him at all. They had told her that to act kindly and trust any of his words would disrespect all the lives lost to the Kyuubi attack that had occurred. She hadn't understood, but who was she to disobey her parents? She could always trust their judgement.

Naruto missed the livid look on Hinata's face as Sakura stalked away, sighing as he looked at his hand. 'So maybe Sakura isn't a good choice after all…' he thought sadly.

Hinata's face quickly went back to shy embarrassment as Naruto turned back around to face her, a sad smile on his lips. "That was cool Hinata." He said, "How do you move so fast?"

"A-ano…i-i-it's all h-hard w-work, Naruto-kun." She stuttered, shuffling her feet.

Naruto grinned. "Well I'm no stranger to that! Maybe we can train together sometime, and you can show me how you got so strong!"

Hinata's eyes widened as she looked up, gazing into his blue orbs. Train…. _with_ Naruto?

Naruto's smile faltered a bit at her lack of response. Had he said something wrong? Maybe trying to make plans with his, hopefully, soon-to-be-friends was a little over the top so early. He shrugged and took his place at one end of the circle, seeing Sasuke already at his position. He looked at Naruto with annoyance, obviously writing this off as a waste of his time.

"Hey hey, you could at least act interested in fighting me." Naruto said, a bit of annoyance in his voice.

Sasuke turned his eyes towards him and scoffed. "Why should I?" he said. "I want to get as strong as Itachi-niisan, and I don't think you'll help me very much."

Naruto grit his teeth. "How do you know that? You don't know me! I'll kick your butt you jerk!"

Sasuke looked just as annoyed as Naruto did now. "I bet you can't even land a hit on me!"

Naruto punched his open hand challengingly. "Oh yeah? Come on then, Iruka-sensei, start the match!"

Iruka sighed, holding his hand out. "The last match, Uzumaki Naruto against Uchiha Sasuke. Begin!" he exclaimed, lifting his hand into the air. Naruto charged at the ebony haired boy, launching a strong right hook at his face.

Sasuke started to slide under his telegraphed punch easily, a smirk settling on his face. 'Just as I thought, he has no fighting style…' his eyes widened as he was jabbed in the sternum with Naruto's right elbow, knocking him backwards. Sasuke righted himself with a back handspring, glaring at the blonde.

"That was one shot you know, Sasuke." Naruto goaded, "But I'd like the match to keep going."

Sasuke ground his teeth before launching himself at the spiky haired youth. The Uchiha's style of taijutsu was formidable, and since Naruto hadn't had a chance to actually defend himself against any taijutsu yet, was treading on new ground during this fight. Sasuke managed to land a few punches on him, causing him to retreat slightly with minor pains in his ribs and stomach.

"Had enough yet moron?" he said, slightly panting. He didn't want to admit it, but Naruto was actually a formidable fighter.

"Feh, I'm just getting warmed up!" Naruto exclaimed, rushing Sasuke again. Sasuke narrowed his eyes, noting that Naruto had recovered extremely quickly.

'His endurance must be really good…' the Uchiha noted as he ducked under a punch and dodged a knee. 'I need to end this soon…'

Naruto, mistaking Sasuke's planning as a show of exhaustion, overextended himself with particularly wild roundhouse that Sasuke ducked deftly underneath. Wasting no time, he drove his fist powerfully into Naruto's stomach, causing the boy to exhale violently. With the intention of ending the fight, he grabbed Naruto's extended leg and heaved, tossing the boy a good ways outside the circle.

He watched as Naruto gripped his stomach, taking the time to catch his breath.

Iruka stepped forward, scowling. "That was not needed Sasuke, you could have easily scored the last two points in that opening without throwing Naruto. You could have broken something of his for no reason."

"I did it so he would recognize the difference between our powers." He said, his eyes focused on Naruto's face, which was scowling deeply. "So he knows there's no way he will beat me."

Sasuke stiffened as he felt the small burst of killer intent at his words. "There will be no bullying or belittling of ANYONE in this class as long as I'm in charge. I don't care if you are an Uchiha, I personally trained with your brother, for some time, and I WILL fetch for him to let him know how arrogant you are becoming if I must."

Sasuke's eyes widened and he hung his head slightly, if only out of fear of his older brother. He would definitely not make the small amount of time he could for him if he found him acting like some of the more arrogant members of their clan.

"…I understand Iruka-sensei. I apologize." He said, bowing his head slightly. Iruka nodded curtly.

"Very well. You win the match, so the fights are over for tod-"

"Iruka-sensei, I'd like to fight Sasuke-san since my fight was very short." Hinata said quietly from beside Iruka. He looked at her in surprise, before glancing at Sasuke.

"Well….if Sasuke wants to, I see no reason why we can't fit that in so you can actually get some training. Sasuke?"

Sasuke looked in confusion at the girl, who looked at him passively, an empty sort of look in her eyes. Odd….

"Unless you already recognize the difference in our levels." Hinata said, her voice very low. His eyes widened, before hardening in resolve.

"Fine." He said simply, before taking his stance up at the same end of the circle he began with Naruto's fight. He watched as Hinata walked over, looking into the dirt where Naruto's sandal imprints were. She settled her feet into them for a second, before settling into the familiar Jyuuken stance.

"Begin!" Iruka said, but neither of them moved immediately. Hinata glanced over to see Naruto watching her with rapt attention, and she blushed a little, ducking her head in slight embarrassment.

Sasuke saw this and immediately dashed forward, trying to take advantage of the small distraction. To his credit, he did catch Hinata by surprise. She was still too fast, however, and deflected his punch with a flick of her wrist. Rather than let that hinder him, Sasuke used the momentum he had gained turning to attempt a strong roundhouse at her side. She pushed down this time, causing his upper body to go airborne as he pivoted in midair. She caught him in the chest with a solid palm thrust and sent him thudding to the ground, watching as he leaped back up and assumed a defensive position. Rather than pursuing him, however, Hinata simply settled back into her Jyuuken pose, that same empty look in her eyes. Sasuke's eyes widened at the realization at what was going on.

'She…she's toying with me.' He thought, his eyes growing angry. He was supposed to be the strong one! All the training from Itachi, from his father. He dreamed of being strong like his big brother, and trained every day in his endeavor. But he was still managing to get played with by a member of their rival clan.

He rushed the girl again, intending to end the fight again. He would go all out to prove himself; he had to, otherwise all his hard work was for nothing. He jumped and sent a kick towards her head which she ducked under, quickly bringing her forearms up to block the axe kick he had followed up with. Flipped forward he tried to punch at her kidneys while falling to ground, but they too were blocked as he rolled forward. He quickly turned and thrust his body forward, feigning a punch but really trying to land a solid knee to her side, hoping to throw her off balance. Rather than take the bait, however, she simply grabbed his arm and made to heave him out of the circle like he had recently done to Naruto. Instead of throwing him, however, she slammed him to the ground, elicting a groan of pain from the Uchiha.

"He just wants you to acknowledge his strength." He heard her whisper, as she settled back into her Jyuuken stance. Sasuke didn't get it. How was she so strong? And why did she keep defending the village outcast?

He rushed her again, throwing a flurry of punches at her head, but every single one was either dodged or deflected. Finally, Hinata, who had knocked both his arms upwards and thrown her arms in a circle perpendicular to the ground, slammed both her palms into Sasuke's stomach, knocking him back out of the ring with the added momentum. He lay there, panting for some time, while the rest of the student crowd was speechless. Sasuke was considered to be the most likely to be the strongest student of all of them, if word of mouth was reliable anymore. He had already been trained by both the clan head and genius of the Uchiha clan, and was taking great strides in his development. Meanwhile, almost all reports of Hinata's training had been negative in nature, so no one really expected her to shine as a brilliant kunoichi. No one could doubt she was strong now though. Sasuke had not landed a single hit on her. The crowd was silent, gazing at her in fear and admiration when…

"HOLY CRAP THAT WAS SO AWESOME HINATA!"

Naruto had bounded up to her and gotten so close to her face that she looked ready to faint at any minute.

"HOW DID YOU DO THAT, YOU TOTALLY KICKED HIS ASS!" Naruto yelled, before sheepishly ducking his head and looking towards Iruka. "I m-mean butt! But seriously, you're like, super strong Hinata! We DEFINITELY have to train together now!"

Hinata's face was the shade of an especially vivid setting sun. To hear all this praise at once from someone whom you admired so much was too much for her, and she hid her face in her hands with a small "Eep!"

Naruto mistook this, again, as a negative sign. His mood dropped noticeably, and he kicked a rock away with a tinge of sadness in his voice. "I mean, if you don't want to that's fine. I'm sorry for bothering you…"

Hinata's hands shot away from her face as she took in Naruto's pained expression. _She_ was the one doing it now, albeit not intentionally. She was hurting him. "N-No!" she blurted, looking down and pushing her index fingers together. "I-I mean to s-say…that I w-would v-very much like to t-train with you, Naruto-kun…" she said, some guilt seeping into her voice from making him seem so down. His entire mood changed as soon as she uttered that, however, radiating joy around him.

"Really?" he said excitedly, before jumping in the air and punching it. "We're gonna have so much fun! I know this secret training spot where no one can bother us, and we can bring lunches, and-"

"Naruto." Iruka said impatiently, bonking his student on the head. Naruto rubbed the spot indignantly, looking up at his sensei in question. "Everyone else is already gone. You two can leave after you've cleaned your area up in the classroom, we're done for the day." He said, smiling at them both. The pair nodded, watching as Iruka walked away.

"So when do you wanna start training together?" Naruto asked, tilting his head at Hinata in question. The girl flushed red again, albeit a less intense shade, and fiddled with her coat zipper.

"Wh-whenever you w-want to, Naruto-kun." She said softly, peering up at him. His smile had grown mischievous, and she found herself entranced by it.

"In that case…." Naruto said, turning around abruptly. "Follow me! We'll start right now!"

Hinata nodded, following after him, doing a silent and private sort of happy dance. She had gotten his attention. _He_ admired _her_. And now she was his training partner. Things couldn't get any better.

* * *

Well here you have it. Most of my A/N's are at the beginning, and they should shorten up substantially after this one. I try to recognize reviewers too, and explain my reasoning in case anything seems off. That said, again, I welcome constructive criticism and questions about the story. I will always try to answer them to the best of my ability, or give my exact reasoning for my choices. See you guys next time, thanks for reading


	3. A Blossoming Friendship

Hey hey again guys. First off, I just wanna give a HUGE shoutout to everyone who's reviewed so far. It really warms my heart to see my project being welcomed by the community (besides that one time we'll never speak of haha). This chapter should be closely followed by a second, which will, unfortunately, all that will be up for about a month and a half. There is a small possibility of one going up somewhere in the middle of that, but it's up in the air. It's all up to the ship's schedule. That being said, both this chapter and the second should be fairly lengthy, allowing for plenty of reading before you all start to miss me. I bought a small laptop though, so rest assured I'll continue to write while I'm out at sea, and should have enough for a few updates when I get back.

 **CrAzY'pOtTeR'fAn** \- I appreciate your comment on well-written Naruto stories being a rarity - that's actually the main reason I began writing in the first place. I felt like I could contribute something better than what was already offered. Rest assured Hinata won't be obsessively repeating his name over and over in every scene, but she might retain a bit of that murderous commitment...

 **Ryuujin96** \- I agree that Naruto being a taijutsu powerhouse is a bit overused, but due to his specialization with shadow clones, even a small increase in taijutsu ability translates into a large increase in overall fighting strength. Not saying that I'm going down that particular path, but overall unless you have a bloodline that makes you nigh unbeatable (or you're gaara who can just facefuck you with his sand) being able to fight hand-to-hand is always an important part of being a shinobi

 **Kyuubi16** \- I know I know, the classic "my parents hate your guts so I do too" is cliche as well, but ultimately a vital part of the canon storyline, and hard to avoid with fanfictions unless you alter the storyline massively. Thanks for putting up with it instead of discarding this story as a lost cause, I'll try to make it worth your time.

 **lolol1991** \- I'm afraid I disagree with you. Just because someone has a passion for something, doesn't mean they'll necessarily be completely comfortable with it. My thought process is, while Hinata may be able to focus better and eliminate hesitation in her mind when it comes to fighting for Naruto, her weakness will still always be the object she wants to protect. She still carries her innocence with her, tainted as it may be from watching his near-death scenario.

Once again, to everyone who commented kind words, thank you. It's your motivation that keeps me writing when I'd rather be sulking or doing other things. Bear in mind that I really do read each and every comment, as well as every PM I get. So please if you have questions or issues about what's going on, don't hesitate to voice them. This is supposed to be an enjoyable experience, after all.

With that in mind, let's get this show on the road.

* * *

" _So when do you wanna start training together?" Naruto asked, tilting his head at Hinata in question. The girl flushed red again, albeit a less intense shade, and fiddled with her coat zipper._

" _Wh-whenever you w-want to, Naruto-kun." She said softly, peering up at him. His smile had grown mischievous, and she found herself entranced by it._

" _In that case…." Naruto said, turning around abruptly. "Follow me! We'll start right now!"_

 _Hinata nodded, following after him, doing a silent and private sort of happy dance. She had gotten his attention. He admired her. And now she was his training partner. Things couldn't get any better._

* * *

Naruto leaned against a tree, smiling widely at his violet haired companion.

"That was…really good Hinata-chan!" he gasped out, thumping his chest with his fist. "Whoo! I've never trained….that intensely…with someone before! I've never been…this tired before either!"

Hinata flushed, but smiled as she looked at the ground, panting partially due to her own exertion, but also at Naruto's choice to add that particular suffix for her.

"I-I'm glad…." She said in a small voice, but one filled with genuine joy at helping the boy.

Naruto sucked in a large breath before giving Hinata a fierce look, squinting his eyes at her shy expression.

"Alright, Hinata-chan, give it to me straight…" the boy began, looking as if he was building up to something. A multitude of possibilities ran through Hinata's head at the sight of the apprehensive blonde. 'Does he want me to go away, or cook for him, or ask him why I like him, or confess to me…' The last, hope filled thought left her feeling dizzy.

"What am I bad at and how can I get as strong as you." He blurted out, looking down in embarrassment. Hinata blinked. She hadn't expected that.

"Wh-what?" she stuttered, a look of incredulousness on her face. Naruto scrunched his nose.

"Cmon Hinata-chan…" Naruto whined, looking slightly dejected. "I don't like to seem like I'm weak, but you're on a whole different level, and I figured you could tell me the areas I could improve in…"

Hinata's blush came back in full force. She couldn't believe it, Naruto, the strongest person she knew, was asking for her help.

"I-I-I'm not a-as s-strong as you t-think N-Naruto-kun…" she stammered out, poking her index fingers together.

Naruto frowned. "That's not true, you beat Sasuke so easily, and you beat Sakura-chan with a single strike!" he added, his face falling a little at the memory. "Oh yeah….sorry for rooting against you…I can understand if you don't want to help…"

Hinata shook her head, smiling at him with a bit more confidence than before. "You don't have a-any reason to apologize Naruto-kun, y-you were just trying to s-support your friend. We haven't really t-talked before this so I can't r-really blame you."

Naruto sighed, scratching the back of his head. "Yeah….my friend…."

Hinata glanced towards the academy, scowling. If Sakura's attitude didn't change when they met next…

Hinata looked back to see Naruto sulking. She bit her lip, trying to find her voice. She didn't ever want Naruto to look like that, not while she might be able to do something about it.

"A-ano, Naruto-kun, I h-have a f-few things we can work on….t-t-t-together….." she heard her voice stutter furiously as her face flushed once again. She really had to work on that.

Naruto's look of sullenness immediately did a 180 to that of a child who'd gotten Christmas early. He straightened his back and gave her a look of attention she had never seen him give even Iruka. It was sort of…cute.

She giggled softly, before covering her mouth and flushing a little darker, now was not the time for this. "W-well Naruto-kun, your speed could use some work…your hits are p-powerful, b-but they won't do anything if you c-can't land them."

Naruto nodded, filing away the information. He raised his hand, giving her a pleading look. Her face grew even redder, and she knew she must closely resemble a tomato at this point. "N-N-Naruto-kun…." She said tentatively, pushing her fingers together in her trademark flustered habit. "You d-don't have to a-ask for p-permission to s-s-speak…."

Naruto gave her a cheeky grin before lowering his hand. "Alright! Hinata-chan, how are we gonna train in speed?"

"Well, you're g-gonna try and strike a log a certain a-amount of times in a time limit." She explained. "Then w-we can get an idea of wh-where you are with your speed. A-accuracy isn't as important for you, so I'll l-leave that part of the training out. After w-we get a baseline, we'll do e-exercises that train your f-fast reflex muscles, and-"

Her voice trailed off as she realized his hand was raised again. She puffed out her cheeks cutely and gave him a reproachful look. He looked back questioningly, before looking at his own raised appendage as if it were foreign to him.

"Whoops! Sorry….anyway, what do you mean, fast reflex muscles? I thought we just had…well…muscles." he said with a sheepish grin.

Hinata nodded. "W-we do, but if you only t-train punching really slow but h-hard, and then try to punch quickly, you'll l-lose some of your power." She could see he was still confused, so she repeated her father's example to help her understand. After all, it was important for a Hyuuga to not only strike rapidly, but to get their fingers indented far enough into the skin to allow their chakra bursts to actually hit the tenketsu inside the body.

"N-Naruto-kun, if you do lots of slow squats, your regular jumping height will only go up a l-little. But if y-you jump rapidly the s-same waya lot, and train you-yourself to jump in that fashion, it will go up m-much quicker." She said, and she saw a bit of realization alight the blonde's eyes.

"I see…" he said, looking thoughtful. "So if I train myself to punch really fast, then I can start working my strength into the hits too? So it'll be like my body will be used to striking that fast!" he finished, looking at the bluenette hopefully. She nodded, and he gave a yelp of excitement.

"Then let's get started!" he said, a look of enthusiasm on his face. She nodded, smiling at the inner sun that seemed to emerge whenever he became passionate about something.

 ** _OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO_**

A week later, the academy class was finally introduced to the basic three jutsus that were needed to graduate.

"Now I don't expect you all to master these right away." Iruka said, gazing around the classroom. "You are all expected to be here at least 4 to 5 years, so you have plenty of time to master these techniques. The last thing you want to do is overwork these techniques, it can be harmful to your body. Can anyone tell me why?"

As usual, Sakura's hand was first in the air. Kiba snorted from several desks away and Sakura shot him a nasty look.

"Yes, Sakura."

"In order to use jutsu," Sakura began, casting a longing look at Sasuke to see if he was watching her. He wasn't. "Your body uses chakra, which is made up of both physical and spiritual energy. If you use too much chakra, you could die from the effort it puts on your body."

Iruka nodded. "Exactly. This is also why we don't teach more advanced techniques here in the academy. None of you are expected to have a large chakra pool, or a substantial level of chakra control to be able to safely perform these jutsu. We do, however have some other E rank jutsu that can be taught if you successfully prove that you have the control to master the first three."

Sakura waited to hear the inevitable cheer from Naruto, as he usually did whenever she answered a question correctly in class. It never came however, and she turned around, wondering if he was even there. He was, and she actually felt herself deflate a little at his uncaring attitude. 'Not that I need his praise or anything...' she thought to herself, glancing towards a certain ebony haired individual. 'Not if I can get _his...'_

Naruto's eyes slowly worked their way towards the window as his mind began to doze off, only to be bumped lightly on the shoulder. He glanced over at his violet haired friend and gave an apologetic look. Since they had begun training together, she had apparently asked him about a few things they had already been lectured on, and, seeing as how Naruto usually ignored lectures, he didn't know the answers. Since then, she had made the suggestion that he sit next to her in class so she could keep him on topic when it counted. He was unsure why she looked so red while she asked his opinion of her plan, but he had agreed to it. As boring as it was…

He shifted his attention back to Iruka and went over the information in his head. Physical and spiritual energy combined to make chakra. Chakra was used to perform jutsu. But you needed a proper control over it to make it work properly. His face grew sour at a not too distant memory of trying to fight some bullies who were picking on a small girl. The Third had given him the bunshin jutsu to work on before his academy days started, to put him on a more even playing field with all the children coming from the different clans throughout Konoha. He had followed the old man's instructions on how to mold and utilize his chakra, but his clone had never come out right, no matter how many times he tried it. As he listened to Iruka talk about finding the correct balance of physical and spiritual energy, and how the level of the jutsu determined how much chakra it would consume, he found himself nodding a bit. It made sense...in fact, if all of his lectures were this helpful, why had he not listened before? He refused to answer his own question, knowing that the answer was in the past. He had Hinata as a friend now. He wasn't alone anymore.

 ** _OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO_**

"Arrgghh!" Naruto gripped his hair in frustration, looking down at the deformed, ghostly white Naruto that had withered at his feet. "Why can't I get this stupid jutsu down!"

It was several hours after their training had started, and Hinata had suggested that they try working on the academy jutsu, seeing as how all they'd worked on the past week was Naruto's speed. Hinata had performed all of them flawlessly in front of Naruto, who had gaped at her open mouthed. She blushed before explaining in an embarrassed, stammering voice that he father had been training her in chakra control since she was able to begin studying her families style of fighting, since such a strong degree of it was required to utilize their techniques properly. She was watching a short distance away, awed at both his refusal to give up, and large chakra capacity. He had attempted the jutsu as least 30 times now, and had no indication that he was even winded. Hinata guessed she could maybe make 20-25 copies before her chakra reserves would drop noticeably, but that was only due to her impressive chakra control.

"N-Naruto-kun…" she called out, poking her fingers together. His sulking ceased immediately and he walked over giving her a smile.

"What's up?" he grinned cheekily. She blushed.

"A-Ano….I'm g-going to activate my Byakugan t-to see wh-what's going wrong…" she said nervously. She had never showed Naruto how she looked with it activated before, but she didn't like it. She thought it looked…weird.

Naruto didn't look the least bit hesitant about it though, only giving her a thumbs up. "You got it Hinata-chan! Will you really be able to see all my chakra with it on?" he asked, remembering what she had told him about her clan's dojutsu.

Hinata hesitated. "W-well…kind of. I need to t-train more t-to see all of the chakra network, b-but I'll be able to w-watch you mold and use your chakra." She said, her face a bit downcast at revealing a weakness of hers. She was enjoying him looking up to her too, and yet…

"That's still super cool Hinata-chan!" he exclaimed brightly, scratching the back of his head. It seemed to be a habit of his, just like the connecting of her index fingers. "I bet you'll be able to see everything in no time!"

She nodded, smiling. How did he give her confidence like that? Like a light switch flicking on, she felt like she really would be able to see every tenketsu point if she really put her mind to it, far before she would be expected to. It was a mark of a chuunin Hyuuga to be able to see all, if not most of the tenketsu on the body. After all, it was almost necessary in order to use the sixty-four palms technique.

Naruto stood in front of her, channeling his chakra carefully. Using a simple tiger hand-sign, she activated her clan's dojutsu, and gasped audibly. This close to him, she could see his chakra reserves in detail. And they were _massive_. He really WAS reminiscent of a small sun, just due to the sheer size of his chakra capacity. She saw a large amount work its way to the front of his body, being channeled through his seal, and...

"Bunchin no jutsu!" he called, before a puff of smoke revealed…

Naruto scrunched his nose at his pitiful attempt of a clone, dismissing it immediately. "Blech. Well, Hinata-chan?" he asked, looking at her hopefully.

The bluenette blinked, before looking wondrously at Naruto. "Y-y-you were….using too much chakra…"

It was Naruto's turn to blink. "Too much? But I'm barely using any!"

Hinata shook her head. "N-Naruto-kun….you have a-an enormous amount of ch-chakra….you're using the same a-amount that would be a q-quarter of my entire chakra pool."

Naruto gawked at her. "Really?! So, I just have too much chakra..?" he grinned ear to ear. "That means that I could easily use all those advanced techniques Iruka-sensei was talking about!"

Hinata shook her head again, tugging at her jacket nervously. "D-Don't you r-remember what I-Iruka-sensei said about th-those techniques…?"

Naruto wracked his brain, trying to recall the words the chuunin had imparted on them.

"If you use a higher level technique, and don't know how to control, you can lose all your chakra since it leeches it rapidly…" he said, furrowing his brow. "That means that I couldn't use the better ones either? Ugh…"

Hinata's expression grew worried as his smile marred itself into a frown. "B-But that d-doesn't mean we can't d-do chakra c-control exercises!" she said hurriedly, pushing herself to her feet. His eyes traveled to hers, a familiar hopeful fierceness in them. She felt her face flush from the intense look, and she directed her gaze at her fingers, which began to prod each other.

Naruto nodded at her, giving an embarrassed laugh. "Man, I really am hopeless, eh? You have to train me in everything; jutsu, taijutsu…don't even get me started on weapons." He said with a look of someone with a bad taste in their mouth. It earned him a giggle from the bluenette, which he took happily.

"Th-that's also not completely true N-Naruto-kun." She said, giving him a determined smile. "Y-you're helping me a lot too."

Naruto looked at her, confusion evident on his face. She continued on, "Your e-endurance is incredible, Naruto-kun. Just sparring with you i-is a hard w-workout in itself because you g-go for so long. Plus every t-time you make me have to b-block one of your strikes, i-It's hard because you're so s-strong. It's helped my s-strength too, plus I t-train longer because I want to help you." She finished, looking at her feet in slight embarrassment. In the week they had trained together, she had made progress with being able to say everything on her mind to Naruto. She welcomed the change, slightly upset with herself that she had never found the courage to approach him before, but wanting to make up for lost time now.

Naruto smiled, a small, genuine smile, and Hinata felt her head floating in the clouds. It was so nice to see him smile like that. And it was at _her._

"Ok, Hinata-chan." He said, his voice softer than normal. "We'll keep training together to get really strong."

She nodded, sensing his unwavering determination. She also noticed something else though, something coupled with his fierce conviction.

"Hinata-chan…" he began, and his tone worried her. It was full of apprehension, and nervousness. What was he about to say?

"A-Ano….uh…H-Hinata-chan….WILLYOUBEMYFRIEND?!" he shouted, before looking pointedly at the ground. She blinked, putting his words together in her head.

"Y-your f-f-friend, Naruto-kun?" she asked, wondering why he had even asked the question. Of course she was his friend. She considered him above a friend, he was her source of determination and readiness, her reason for trying. Why she could make the choices to not give up and keep going when her younger self would have simply quit.

He had mistook her meaning again, however, and looked like he wanted to hide away somewhere secluded. "I mean…of course not….forget I said anything…it's ok…"

His eyes widened in shock as he suddenly felt a pair of arms encircle his form in a hug. It was a foreign feeling but not unwelcome.

"O-of course I'll b-b-be y-your f-friend N-Naruto-kun…" He heard Hinata's words ring through his mind, and he felt the corners of his lips tug up again into another true smile. He circled his arms around her waist hesitantly, not wanting to scare her off, but her arms only seemed to tighten. He could feel heat radiating from her face, which was buried in his chest, but didn't note it as anything important. The only thing that mattered to him in this moment, was that he had made a friend. A true friend.

 **SEVERAL WEEKS LATER**

Naruto grunted as Hinata's palm slammed into his side, almost making him lose concentration of the two leaves that were stuck to the palms of his hand via chakra. He dodged her next strike, before arcing into a long back-flip that put some distance between the two. The bluenette wasted no time in charging him, however, not giving him any space to breathe. They had been at it for almost 45 minutes, and while Naruto was using chakra to both keep the leaves in place, and to enhance his limbs to assist him in dodging the swift strikes coming at him, he still wasn't anywhere close to fatigued. The Hyuuga heiress, however, was another story entirely.

She fell back onto her rear, panting as she did so. While the exercise they were doing wasn't terribly exhausting, after 5 previous hours of grueling training, it was hard to keep going. She fell back, letting her head rest on the grass, as she inhaled the scent of the forest. Her eyes opened to see Naruto watching her with a little concern, and she felt the familiar signs of a blush start to creep into her cheeks.

"You ok Hinata-chan?" he asked, still keeping the leaves stuck to himself. She nodded, still taking in deep breaths to replenish the oxygen in her blood. He nodded, flashed her a grin, and leaped into the forest, likely sprinting from tree to tree as was their custom whenever she became too tired to continue. Not only was he training his legs to kick faster and building his endurance, but the constant weaving through the branches forced him to focus on finding a safe path, making it that much harder to keep the leaves from unsticking and falling, especially with the wind attempting to rip them from the blonde's hands. Hinata gazed up at the cloudless sunny sky, thinking with admiration at how far they – especially he – had progressed in the short amount of time they had begun training together. His bunshin were still horrid, but as Naruto had told Hinata that he was barely able to use the smallest amount he could, and after informing him that it was still well over twenty times the amount she used to create hers, they had decided to wait on it to see if they could find a better solution. His chakra control, however, had still increased dramatically, and he had almost mastered the other two of the academy's jutsu. He had taken to the henge fairly quickly, likely due to his prankster nature, and after Hinata had suggested he could use the substitution to escape especially sticky situations and get away from the chuunin who were usually after him more readily, he had taken to it with just as much enthusiasm. His taijutsu was improving by leaps and bounds as well; not only had he almost mastered his style due to his almost constant using of it during training, but the blows were much swifter than before, as well as retaining their devastating power. Had Hinata not taken to her own training with as much ferocity as he had his, she was sure that she wouldn't be able to keep up with him. As it was though, as much as she tried to remain the superior one, if only to have him admire her a little longer and be able to help him more, he was catching up quickly. His otherworldly stamina let him continue training when most humans would be expected to drop from exhaustion, and it certainly had its advantages when it came to gaining strength. In their spars, Hinata now had to pour every ounce of her will into beating him, and while she hadn't lost yet, there were a few _very_ close calls. He had delightedly pointed this out to her the first time it happened, but a cute pout later and he was apologizing, promising to never tease her about it again. She had giggled shyly at that, which had elicited a pout of his own, causing her to blush.

She inhaled slowly through her nose, letting her lungs expand to their full capacity, before letting the breath out slowly. The next taijutsu tournament was coming up soon; another single elimination one on one style. She hoped that they wouldn't have to fight each other, as she wanted to show him that his friendship wasn't being wasted on someone weak. She cringed slightly at her own thought – Naruto wasn't so shallow as to care about the individual strength of someone he cared about. Just that they offered their companionship and saw him as an individual of worth, and not like something nasty they had stepped in. She still couldn't help but feel as if she needed to be strong, however. He deserved someone strong to be at his side.

Naruto came pelting back into the clearing, flipping forward before skidding along the ground on his feet. His eyes were closed in concentration, and as he opened them, he looked into his palms hopefully.

"YATA!" he yelled, jumping and punching the air. The leaves had remained in their respective places on his palms; he had tree-sprinted for at least 10 minutes without letting them fall.

Hinata smiled shyly at him, sitting up. "G-Good job N-Naruto-kun!" she said warmly, relishing in the glowing look her gave her.

"It's really all thanks to you, Hinata-chan!" he said, scratching the back of his and offering her a smile of gratitude. "I would have never thought to do half of this stuff if I was still by myself!"

Hinata shook her head, poking her fingers together as she glanced down with a blush. "Th-That's not…"

Naruto nodded sagely, crossing his arms. "Oh yes it is. You should take more credit for your actions Hinata-chan, you've really helped me come a long way, y'know? My best friend rocks!" he finished, offering her a thumbs up with a cheesy smile.

She giggled cutely, before a small snort escaped her. Her eyes widened, and her cheeks flushed crimson.

'Oh god, did he hear-'

Her answer came preemptively from the whiskered boy as he rolled on the ground, clutching his stomach. Hinata puffed her cheeks out cutely and looked at him pleadingly, but it seemed like he really couldn't stop laughing.

She huffed and crossed her arms, turning away as her face glowed red. How embarrassing…

Abruptly the laughing stopped, and her head whipped back around, confused at the sudden change in noise. He was looking alarmed and scared.

"I-I'm sorry Hinata-chan, I didn't mean to upset you, I've just never heard that before…" he said rapidly, obviously trying to get his explanation out in fear that his self-proclaimed (but true nonetheless) best friend was truly mad at him.

She smiled in slight embarrassment. "It's o-okay Naruto-kun, I j-just felt a little embarrassed is a-all, I-I'm not mad."

Naruto's mood brightened again, and she could almost swear that his happiness depended on her view of him. Almost.

"Alright then! I'm gonna do a hundred push-ups, sit-ups, squats, and pull-ups, before we start doing chakra control again!"

Hinata blanched a little – she was absolutely exhausted. But she wouldn't argue with him, not when he was so determined to get stronger. She could take a little exhaustion for him without thinking. He seemed to be a tad more perceptive than before, however, because he squinted at her accusingly.

"Hey hey, Hinata-chan, are you feeling tired?" he asked, a serious undertone to his voice.

She shook her head rapidly, not wanting to disappoint him, but the look of hurt that flashed through his eyes caused her breath to hitch in her throat. He looked down and she heard him murmur, in a quiet voice. "Please don't lie to me….I hate liars…"

She felt her throat constrict and tears spring to her eyes. She was damned if she did, and damned if she didn't Either he would hate her for lying to him, or look down on her for disappointing him. Just like her father used to.

She nodded once, not trusting her voice, and looked up to see Naruto smiling sadly at her.

"It's ok." He said, sitting on the grass across from her. "I don't mind doing the exercises myself. I'm not gonna be mad or anything if you want to stop because you're tired; I know that not many people can train as long or as hard as me; old man Hokage said it himself." He finished, giving her a foxy grin. She nodded and wiped some tears from her eyes.

"Just….don't lie to me, please." He said in a pleading voice, his expression lost and hurt. "There was this time…someone said they'd adopted me from the orphanage when I was little. The orphanage never treated me right, so I was so happy that someone both wanted to take me away from them, and to take me into their home. I'd never been in a house before, and I couldn't wait to get there. I told them how much I was looking forward to calling him my family; maybe even my dad."

Hinata watched as Naruto's eyes tightened, as if trying to recall something far off. It was easy to see he remembered exactly what had happened though. "They led me into this building…it didn't look like a house to me, and I told him I wanted to go home. He hit me then…I didn't say anything else. I was scared. I didn't want to lose the only person to ever take me in. But he led me to a room full of others, and…" he cut off his recollection painfully, giving her a haunting look.

"So please…..don't lie to me again. Ok Hinata-chan?" he asked in a pleading tone. She nodded again, not sure she could form coherent words at the emotions that were running rampant through her system. Anger, empathy, sadness, rage…the want to hurt those who hurt Naruto. No, the _need_ to _crush_ anyone that put him in pain. She tentatively scooched closer to him, holding her arms out as if asking permission to hug him. The corners of his mouth tugged vertically into a sad smile, and he embraced her small frame, grateful for the comfort.

'I won't let anyone hurt you ever again Naruto-kun…' she thought, squeezing his small frame. 'I promise.'

"That'll be a hard promise to keep, Hinata-chan, because a lot of people want to hurt me." Naruto voice came from above her head. With a jolt, the bluenette realized that she had been speaking aloud, and the blush that adorned her face from her unknowing confession was truly something to behold.

"I-I-I'll s-still try m-my b-best…" she stuttered out, burying her glowing face into his chest. She felt him nod and lay back onto the grass, bringing her small frame with him.

"In that case, I'll protect you too." He said with conviction after a short time had passed. She could not hear him, however. She was asleep with her head on his chest, a peaceful smile adorning her face. He glanced down and smiled at her, as well as flushing a little red. He never had anyone sleep on him before. It was….different.

'But…' he thought sleepily, closing his eyes as the sunshine warmed his entire being. 'Not bad…'

* * *

Here's where I think I'll stop this chapter. A little shorter than I wanted it, but it came into too nice of an ending without me having to find a place to stop. Another chapter (maybe even two!) should be out by Sunday, which will be the last day this story will be updated for about a month. I'll keep putting that into these short A/N's so that if anyone claims they were caught by surprise, I will not feel even the slightest bit guilty about it. Seriously, especially if you are reading these as they come out, please read the A/N's. I try my best to not put useless shit in them. See you guys next time


	4. New Friends

Hey there guys. Due to my being in a seemingly 'feely' mood lately, I can feel like I'm gonna be pumping out at least 2 more chapters before my departure for a short while, which seems to have been pushed back from Monday. To when I'm not sure, gotta get more data from my division, but expect two more chapters soon. That being said, I'm still very pleased with the feedback I've been receiving. It's nice to see a few of you putting in comments on things that you especially enjoy, or are a bit skeptical about. Believe it or not, every review and PM has the potential to change the way I write the story. Maybe it's a better idea that I hadn't thought of, maybe it's a continuity error that's story breaking, or maybe it's just a small quip that I like the idea of, and it changes the dynamic of a certain character. Every voice matters, so don't be afraid to make yours heard. I'm gonna harp on that every chapter, because I feel like some people read a story with a certain pet peeve unaddressed, when the writer would find it inconsequential to remove that small aspect. To be fair, if it's deeply ingrained or there's a reason for it, it'll probably stay, but there's no harm in making your opinion known. I'm writing this thing on the fly, with only a broad idea on how I want the story to go, so I can adopt these ideas in a heartbeat.

Thanks to everyone, again, who puts in the time to review my humble creation.

Let's get started.

* * *

 _'I won't let anyone hurt you ever again Naruto-kun…' she thought, squeezing his small frame. 'I promise.'_

 _"That'll be a hard promise to keep, Hinata-chan, because a lot of people want to hurt me." Naruto voice came from above her head. With a jolt, the bluenette realized that she had been speaking aloud, and the blush that adorned her face from her unknowing confession was truly something to behold._

 _"I-I-I'll s-still try m-my b-best…" she stuttered out, burying her glowing face into his chest. She felt him nod and lay back onto the grass, bringing her small frame with him._

 _"In that case, I'll protect you too." He said with conviction after a short time had passed. She could not hear him, however. She was asleep with her head on his chest, a peaceful smile adorning her face. He glanced down and smiled at her, as well as flushing a little red. He never had anyone sleep on him before. It was….different._

 _'But…' he thought sleepily, closing his eyes as the sunshine warmed his entire being. 'Not bad…'_

* * *

Naruto let his forehead fall on his desk, lifted it, and repeated his previous action. This lecture on the founding of Konoha was going to drive him mad if he continued listening to it for much longer. It didn't pertain to training at all…

He gave a small whimper as a slender shoulder bumped his gently, an action that conveyed Hinata's silent request for him to pay attention. Why did she want to torture him? He gave her a gigantic pout before sitting up straight, looking as if it was taking a great effort to do so. Hinata glanced sideways at him, giggling. History might not make him into a better fighter, but having him listen might raise his patience a bit. She noticed he liked to run recklessly into his fights, and was hoping to instill a little tact into him. She couldn't have him charge a skilled shinobi and die due to overconfidence, no matter how good he got. She couldn't risk him.

After the lecture ended, they were let out early with the promise that they would train themselves. Instead of heading to their usual spot, the pair decided to stay on the Academy's training grounds to utilize their practice sets of ninja tools, as well as their expansive target range. They each grabbed a set of kunai and shuriken, as well as some senbon. Naruto had actually suggested the latter, as part of a plan he had. Once they got proficient with one set of weapons, they would work their way to the next. It never hurt to be able to pick up and throw anything found on the battlefield with deadly precision, after all. Plus it got boring to throw the same weapon, again and again. A change of pace was pleasant.

Naruto and Hinata stood side by side, their eyes closed. As if by some signal, both of their eyes snapped open at once, letting their kunai fly. Hinata tossed five of them in a single throw, watching the wide arc hit several targets near dead-center. She immediately began alternating throwing with each of her hands, hitting targets further and further away, before they started straying from the center of the wooden targets. She nodded to herself; this was her current limit for kunai then. She glanced over at Naruto's set of targets, the blonde having the same exercise as her. His initial fan throw was mostly accurate, only one straying to the outside edge of the bulls-eye. He had come a long way in the past few months of their training.

Further down range was another story, however. While he had consistently hit bulls-eyes for about 25 meters, past that he had started slipping. That paled a little in comparison to her 40 meters of precision throwing, but was still impressive. He wouldn't take it kindly though.

"Man, you still out-throw me easily Hinata-chan." Naruto grimaced, looking at his sloppy aim downrange. "I really need to work on these stupid things…"

"Y-You'll get better, Naruto-kun." She said with confidence, offering him a small smile. He returned it with gusto, gripping 4 shuriken between each of his fingers.

"I'm a lot better with these, you better be ready!" he exclaimed, taking careful aim. Hinata was about to respond in the affirmative, when a small clearing of a throat reached her ears. Naruto's ears twitched at the foreign sound, and they both turned to greet their onlooker.

A disgruntled (and slightly embarrassed) looking Sasuke stood with his hands in his pockets, his gaze directed at the ground. Naruto blinked, his face filled with a sort of surprise, but Hinata's eyes narrowed, her grip on her shuriken becoming a little tighter.

"Uhh….what's up Sasuke?" Naruto said awkwardly, obviously confused as to why the Uchiha prodigy was paying them a visit.

Sasuke glanced up at Naruto, his eyes quickly flickering to Hinata. He spotted her threatening gaze, and dropped his eyes back down.

"Naruto…" he began in a low voice, checking to see if anyone was watching. "I just wanted to….well…I suppose…" he took a deep breath, before looking straight at him with conviction in his eyes. "I talked to Itachi-niisan about what happened, and he said that you would make a good friend and rival, so I'm here to apologize for looking down on you before."

Naruto stood stone still, his eyes wide from shock. He hadn't expected this, not without beating the jerk in a fight at least. A grin came to his face nonetheless; was he already gaining another friend? Fate was being unusually kind to him.

Hinata's look of shock was quickly mingled with that of suspicion. They had barely interacted since the sparring tournament four months previous, and his sudden apology had her on edge. After all, how many people had attempted to draw Naruto into a false sense of security, before – sometimes literally – stabbing him in the back?

Sasuke saw Hinata's cold eyes boring into his and he shivered. He looked at her pleadingly, his body conveying vulnerability. "Please, Hinata-san, I mean what I say. I…I look up to my big brother very much. He said that he's seen Naruto training and expects him to become a great shinobi one day, and urged me to set aside my grudge of…of you beating me as badly as you did. It took awhile but, I think I've finally gotten past my own…'arrogance'." He finished, flinching as he did so. Someone else's words seemed to be playing on repeat in his head, torturing the youth slightly. Hinata's gaze melted a little, and became…tolerant.

Naruto wiped a stray tear from his eye, extending his shuriken-free fist to Sasuke. "If we're gonna be friends, you'd better not lie to me or Hinata-chan, got it?" Hinata saw with satisfaction that while he was a tad overwhelmed with emotion, he still kept in mind all those times the offer wasn't as genuine.

Sasuke nodded, a small smile resting on his face, and he punched Naruto's fist lightly with his own. Naruto turned around, punching the air with jagged metal. "ALRIGHT! LET'S GET BACK TO IT HINATA-CHAN, WE HAVE ANOTHER PERSON TO GET STRONG FOR!"

'You're the only person I'll ever want to get strong for, Naruto-kun.' She thought earnestly, but raised her shuriken as well. As before, they let them fly at the same time, throwing fist after fist of the spinning stars. Hinata watched as her groups connected in the bulls-eye, time and time again, her accuracy waning slightly before that of her kunai. Naruto's however…

His eyes widened as he double and triple checked the scene before him. He clenched his fists tightly, and Sasuke, watching with slight concern, saw an intense expression on his face. Suddenly he burst out, a gigantic smile his most prominent feature.

"YeAHHH! I FINALLY BEAT HINATA-CHAN AT SOMETHING!" he shouted, jumping repeatedly as his energy levels reached critical. Sasuke blinked. Hinata was the best in their class at just about everything, there was no way…

As he looked downrange, however, he found that the blonde was telling the truth. The target where Hinata had begun to lose accuracy, she had stuck three shuriken neatly in the center, with one trailing off to the side where it stuck just outside the bulls-eye. The one after that was a similar story, with two trailing out. Both of the targets on Naruto's side, however, had four stars jutting out of each of those red centers, the one after being where he started to hit off-center. Sasuke looked at the pair of them wondrously. How had they progressed so fast? Sasuke had sneered at the first attempt Naruto made with his weaponry, throwing so wildly that Iruka had put him a little aside to ensure he didn't hit anyone else's targets on accident. Now though….

He doubted that he could hit even two at the range Naruto was hitting all 4 dead accurate.

Hinata was practically glowing. Naruto had done it. It was a sign of real progress that he had thrown so accurately. Granted, if she had used her Byakugan, she could have thrown with more precision, but it was an unfair advantage in her eyes (literally), so she neglected to use it…for now. She certainly had to train her eyes for longer use and vision, and now that Naruto was catching up to her in the weapons department, she figured the next time they threw, he would be in for a little bit of an unpleasant surprise.

Sasuke's cough took them both out of their individual musings, Naruto looking at him with joy on his face, Hinata with polite (yet slightly agitated) curiosity.

"Uh…"he began, eliciting a raised eyebrow from the bluenette. He usually tried to carry himself cooly, most likely trying to emulate his sibling he cared about so much. He looked awkward as he pulled at a stray string on his shorts. "How…how did you guys get so strong?" he finally asked, looking at them with a sort of repressed awe.

Naruto blinked, then shrugged. "We train a lot." He said simply.

"I train a lot too." Sasuke retorted, looking more confused than ever. "I don't take a day off, normally. It's the only way I can ever hope to catch up to Itachi-niisan."

Naruto tilted his head. "So you train to get strong enough to protect him?"

Sasuke's confused look grew ever more so. "He doesn't need protecting, he's the strongest person I know."

"Well." Naruto said, a serious look crossing his face. "I want to get stronger to protect Hinata-chan, old man Hokage, Iruka-sensei, and anyone else that becomes precious to me." He said, flashing a smile at Sasuke. "I guess you fall into that category now too, huh?"

Sasuke still looked as lost as ever. "You fight….to protect your friends?"

Naruto nodded, glancing at Hinata. "Especially Hinata-chan. She's done so much for me, and if I could use all my power to save her, while not saving myself, I'd do it for sure." Hinata looked sharply at him, opening her mouth as if to protest, but his sincere smile made her shut it with a blush, causing her to look down, prodding her fingers together.

Sasuke looked down, processing what he'd heard. 'The power…to save someone? To protect your friends? Is that what you have, Itachi-nii? The want to protect…me?'

Sasuke nodded slowly, looking up at the two of them. "I'd like to train with you."

Naruto's smile widened, but Hinata's look of disappointment wasn't lost to him. She obviously valued the time she got alone with him.

"Don't worry, it won't be all the time." He added, smiling at Hinata. She nodded, giving Naruto a sideways look. It wasn't hard to tell who she fought for.

 _ **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**_

Sasuke hit the ground with a groan, clutching his stomach as he grit his teeth. Naruto grinned sheepishly at him, but didn't drop his fighting stance.

"Sorry Sasuke, but I've already been chastised once about pulling punches against a friend." Naruto said, a bit of regret in his voice.

Sasuke nodded, getting up slowly. "Just wasn't ready for it, I guess. I really need to stop underestimating you." He said, smirking slightly.

Naruto grinned back. In the week Sasuke had joined in their training sessions, he had sparred with Naruto daily. Unlike their first fight, Sasuke had not even come close to winning any of their duels.

Sasuke rushed him, feigning a sweeping kick and rapidly circling him to land a hard punch to his kidney. Naruto reacted quickly, moving just enough to avoid the punch, turning to drive an elbow into the Uchiha's chest. Sasuke dodged backwards, landing on one foot and kicking off hard, looking to ram into the blonde's stomach with his shoulder. He turned as the boy leapt over him, catching his foot that was intended strike his back. He thought he had gotten the blonde, but his eyes widened as he was flung forward, the entire leg acting as a catapult to rocket him towards a tree. He cursed and swung his body sideways, gripping the trunk to swing himself around the tree, carrying his momentum into a straight kick aimed for the blonde. He had hoped that Naruto was still recovering from the effort he had put into his throw, but that hope was for naught. Naruto grabbed Sasuke's extended leg, and, before he had time to react to it, slammed him to the ground. Sasuke felt the breath leave his body and he gasped, rolling onto his side trying to catch his breath.

"Heh…sorry again." Naruto said, kneeling by his friend. "I did try and make that last hit not SUPER hard. Just fast enough to prevent you from countering it." He gave a cheeky grin.

Hinata sent a slightly disapproving look his way, but said nothing. She knew that the raven haired Uchiha would not have been able to escape Naruto's toss, so she didn't pursue the subject.

After Sasuke caught his breath, he stood shakily. "Man, I can't believe I haven't been able to hurt you even a little all week." He brushed some dirt off his clothes, before giving Naruto a smile. "I think training in you two this week has helped me progress much faster than I would have otherwise. I think I'll give you two some time to train alone though. I know where my weaknesses lie, and I've gotta work on them if I wanna beat you."

Naruto nodded, a proud smile on his face as he rapped his knuckles against those of Sasuke's. "I hope you do. If I get stronger than everyone, who's gonna give me and Hinata-chan competition?"

Sasuke smirked, choosing not to reply as he exited the clearing, one hand up in a silent goodbye. Naruto turned to Hinata, who had watched their exchange with a smile. While she had been extremely apprehensive about letting the boy into their group of two, worried he would continue to look down at Naruto despite his word to his brother, he had surprised her, taking to their training regime without a single complaint, even going so far as to offer his encouragement to Naruto. It was obvious he was unused to such words, since it had come out awkward, but to Naruto it made no difference. Any form of kindness was golden in his books, and she was glad to see the positive effect it made on both Naruto's attitude and his training.

Naruto stood smiling gently at the spot where Sasuke had disappeared into the forest. "You know," he said, after some thought, "when you get to know him, he's not that much of a jerk. Just feels like he has a lot to live up to, y'know? It doesn't help that he has every single girl in the class trying to get his attention either…" Naruto made a sour face at the end, one that Hinata didn't smile at. She looked towards her feet, pushing her pointer fingers together.

"N-Naruto-kun…do you…d-do you w-wish they paid a-attention to y-y-you instead?" she muttered quietly, slightly ashamed at her question. She knew his answer, or thought she did, but wanted to hear him say the words. She could be selfish sometimes, right?

Her eyes flickered to him in slight fear as he hesitated to answer. She could see a mixture of emotions in his eyes, but couldn't pinpoint any of them.

"Well…if you would have asked me that when we first got to the academy, I would have said yes." He said, a his face set into a look of loneliness. Hinata hated that look. "But… I've got you." He said simply, lifting his gaze to hers to smile dazzlingly at her. Her breath hitched.

"I-I-I'm n-not worth m-much…" she blurted out, averting her eyes from his now angry gaze.

"Don't you ever say that Hinata-chan." He said fiercely, walking to her and placing his hands on her shoulders firmly. "Ever. You're worth more than the whole of those stupid fan-girls combined."

Hinata shivered at the contact, and at the words that left his mouth. He found more worth in her than a dozen other girls? A few were much prettier than her as well. Sure, she might have done more to earn her place at his side than them; she never saw THEM getting shop owners ostracized for mistreating the shunned blonde. Her view of Naruto was too pure though, even for herself. In her eyes, NO ONE earned the right to walk by his side as an equal, only behind him as a follower, or a supporting friend.

"Besides," Naruto said after a short pause, grinning as her pulled her into a hug that enveloped her tiny frame. "None of them come even close to your strength. You're the only girl I want to pay attention to me, Hinata-chan!"

This last comment, combined with the complete warmth that was Naruto's embrace, was a little too much for the bluenette, and she blissfully passed out in his arms, an elegant smile on her slumbering face.

 _ **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**_

"Teams of three!" Iruka called out over the excited murmurs. They were going to a field exercise today – learning to identify edible food in the wild. Iruka had been initially surprised, a few weeks earlier, when their first group training event had yielded Uchuha Sasuke teaming up with Naruto and Hinata, but it had become quickly apparent to him that Naruto had taken his advice seriously. He was very happy as a mentor to the young boy, and had enjoyed seeing him come out of his shell to the two clan members. He watched as the three of them silently hovered together in the back of the class, also eyeing the multiple girls who were throwing dirty looks at the group. He was surprised to see that just as many were being thrown at Hinata as Naruto, and he attributed it to her being the top student in the class. They were also probably assuming that Sasuke was gravitating towards her due to her prowess, and in part they were right. But friendship is rarely so simple.

Deciding that he would have to be unpopular for the day, Iruka made a quick decision.

"Now, I see many groups consisting of the same people. I want you all to try and swap at least one member out. Remember, you don't get a say in who you get teamed up with when you all hopefully graduate in a few years, so it's in your best interest to branch out and become friends with as many people as possible."

Naruto's cry of outrage was mimicked by several others, but Iruka quieted them with a stern look.

"There will be many times you will be paired with different shinobi of different strengths for the various missions you will go on down the road." He said wisely, "Learning to adapt and work with peers of different skill sets will help you adapt when it really matters; life or death situations do not always come around when you're with your closest friends."

None of the students looked happy, but the majority of them looked like they had at least understood his point. Grumbling, many students began to swap around, though no one ventured towards Naruto's group.

Sasuke looked irritated as he gave them a small wave, looking around desperately for a group that didn't contain a female calling to him with hearts in her eyes.

Naruto put his head down on the desk he was sitting at, grumbling incoherently. This day had started off so well, and now some random student was going to get thrown on their team, and most likely shun him the entire time. To his surprise though, he saw a young boy with sunglasses make his way up to their table, the lower portion of his face hidden by his collar.

"Hello, Uzumaki-san, Hyuuga-san. Would either of you mind my presence on your team for this exercise?" he asked, his voice stoic. Naruto blinked.

"Uh…not at all?" he said, sounding unsure of himself. Hinata shook her head as well, her eyes not leaving the newcomers. "Uh….Shino, right?"

Shino nodded, noticing Hinata's none too subtle stare-down. "That is correct. Do not worry, I do not mean either of you ill-will. I was, perhaps, wondering if you knew the reason everyone treats you with such hostility, Uzumaki-san."

Naruto shook his head, his face glum. "If I knew I'd try and do something to fix it, but I really don't. Trust me, I'd like to know too…"

Shino nodded, before turning curtly to address Hinata. "Hyuuga-san, I'd like you to understand that I bear Uzumaki-san no negative feelings. I understand why you are defensive, but I would like, if possible, for us all to get along."

Hinata stared at the stoic boy for a minute longer, her eyes searching for any hint of deceit in his face. As a Hyuuga, and especially as the heiress to her clan, she had long since began training to read people's faces and emotions. Although no master, she could almost always get a decent read on the general mood of people, and knew the tell-tale signs of liars.

Seeing none, she nodded tightly, still not certain about the whole thing. Similar to Sasuke, they had barely any previous interaction with Shino, and she was hesitant to welcome him with open arms.

Shino pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose, silently acknowledging Hinata's grudging acceptance into their group. "Excellent. Should we get going then? I believe we have a ways to walk to the actual site of our training."

Naruto nodded enthusiastically, pulling Hinata up and he leapt to his feet. Despite her hesitance in getting up, she did so immediately at the blonde's contact with her, blushing slightly in the process. Even if Naruto wasn't worried, she had to be. Enough for both of them, lest he get hurt again.

Naruto chattered excitedly all the way to their destination, which turned out to be the very same training ground that Naruto called his home away from home. Shino had listened closely to the babble, voicing his opinions on various things when Naruto had no choice but to take a moment and breathe. Hinata had listened to, but didn't respond to anything. She was too absorbed in thought, at war with herself. If Naruto trusted someone, she should be trusting them as well. At the same time, it had gotten him hurt before, so she should really be more cautious when it came to people claiming to be friendly. Which was the right answer?

Iruka cleared his throat loudly, catching the attention of all the young students on the edge of the wood. "Now, I want all the groups to fan out, and begin collecting various plants that you think can be used as food. I'll be monitoring and offering assistance if you need it, so there's no need to worry. Is everyone ready?"

Upon receiving a loud chorus of "yes sensei", he clapped his hands. "Alright then, off you go!"

Naruto, Hinata, and Shino all leapt towards the clearing Naruto and Hinata trained together in, the former sprawling out on the grass as they reached their destination.

"Ahhh, this is great. Almost like we get the spend the school day at home, right Hinata-chan?" he joked. Hinata smiled, nodding. It was nice to be in a familiar place.

Shino looked up at the clear blue sky. It was a nice day, and they had plenty of time to gather the food. He laid back, next to Naruto, feeling his hive's gentle buzz. They enjoyed the warmth just as much as him.

"Hey, Shino." Naruto spoke from beside him.

"Yes, Uzumaki-san?" Shino replied, causing a grimace to appear on the blonde's face.

"Blegh, stop calling me that." He said, stretching his back. Man, it was nice out. "Just call me Naruto!"

Shino nodded after a second, filing the important information away in his mind. "My apologies, Naruto-san."

"You don't need to apologize, geez, and Naruto- _san_? Oh whatever." Naruto glanced over at him. "…why don't you see me like everyone else does?"

Shino turned his head, his expression unchanging. "Why should I?"

Naruto opened his mouth, but no noise came out. He furrowed his eyebrows. "Huh?"

"What I mean to say is, you have not wronged me. Therefore I don't see any need to be upset or angry at you. It's as simple as that."

Naruto blinked, before looking even more confused. "But if it's that simple," he said, his voice showing frustration. "why does everyone else hate me? I didn't do anything to any of them."

Shino shrugged. "Could it possibly be due to the graffiti and pranks I hear my clansmen discussing occasionally?"

Naruto shook his head, his eyes downcast. "The only reason I started any of that was to get people to notice me, maybe laugh at something I did. At least then they'd acknowledge I was there…"

Shino's eyebrows furrowed as well, something quite rare for the calm Aburame. "If that's the case…I do not know. I will inquire with my father further to try to get that answered."

Naruto looked around at Shino, astonishment on his face. "R-Really? You'd do that for me?"

Shino nodded, his mouth twitching as if he wanted to smile. "I am just as curious as you, but I suppose it is for you, in a way."

Naruto grinned broadly, looking back up at the cerulean sky. "Thank you, Shino. I think we'll be good friends."

'Friends…' Shino replayed the simple word in his head. Not many people openly pursued or accepted friendship with an Aburame, due to their secluded nature, and the hives of insects they contained within their bodies. The villagers shunned them, although not disrespectfully, and fellow shinobi acknowledged their strength, but few associated with them on close, personal levels.

Shino smiled, the action hidden by his jacket. The news of his new friendship would please his father, he was sure.

After an hour of napping in the clearing, the three were caught by an irritated Iruka, who chastised them for slacking off. Naruto huffed at this, picking up and popping a mushroom into his mouth in front of the mortified Iruka, claiming that food wasn't hard to find.

"N-NARUTO!" Iruka stammered, his face going pale. "THAT MUSHROOM IS EXTREMELY POISONOUS!"

Naruto blinked, his face screwing up in confusion. "What? But I eat those all the time, I don't always have time to shop for groceries, y'know?"

Naruto proved his point by grabbing the mushrooms twin, and popping that into his mouth too, shuddering. "I hate vegetables though…"

Iruka was sputtering, his face the color of paper. "That's not….how can…MUSHROOMS ARE A FUNGUS!" he bellowed, bending over and breathing heavily. Naruto looked at him like he was about to go mad.

"Geez Iruka-sensei, you really need to calm down." Naruto said, holding his hands up in a placating manner. His sensei could get really worked up sometimes…

Iruka took a closer look at Naruto, waiting to see the symptoms of the these dangerous fungi. 'No swelling of the throat, no constricted airways…he's not dizzy, no bleeding from any orifices…is he really immune to these things?' he thought, looking bewildered. It seemed so, however, because Naruto stood staring at him, his hesitant look still in place.

"Well, Naruto." Iruka sighed. "It looks like you have…natural resistances to poison. I wouldn't urge you to try this on any other of the poisonous plants in the forest, but-"

"I've already eaten everything in here at least once." Naruto interrupted, placing his hands behind his head.

Iruka blanched, bringing a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. 'I'll have to inform Hokage-sama about this…'

"Naruto, you're exempt from this exercise, and I don't want you passing any help to your team." He said, causing the blonde to look outraged. He placed a patient hand up, indicating he still had the floor to speak. "That mushroom you ate just now, would have killed most anyone else within 10 minutes." He said, watching Naruto's face grow sick. "Do you want to be the reason one of your friends eats something poisonous because you say it's ok, only for them to die minutes later?"

Naruto shook his head rapidly, worried eyes flashing towards Hinata. Iruka nodded solemnly; his point had gotten across. "Good. I want you to do some personal training then; are you two fine to finish the exercise?" he turned to Hinata and Shino, and seeing both of them nod, he turned away.

"Excellent. I'll be back in half an hour to check on your progress." He said, leaping away. Once out of sight, he dropped his hands into a tiger seal, watching as a shadow clone poofed to life before his eyes. "Watch over the students here, you already know where I'm going." He said politely, leaping away towards the Hokage tower.

 _ **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**_

"And you're sure of this, Iruka?"

The sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, sat in his chair facing the village, a smoking pipe perched in-between his lips. The smoke wafted towards the ceiling lazily, helping to calm the aged leader. He was, as he often stated, too old for this. However, the village needed a leader, someone strong to look to, and he was the only _sane_ candidate, especially after the death of the yondaime.

"Yes, Hokage-sama." Iruka said, his features twisted in worry. "Like I said, I've noticed small cuts and bruises and whatnot healing at an accelerated rate, but thought nothing of it. This time though, it was apparent. The Kyuubi's chakra seems to be influencing Naruto's body, although it seems like it's only a ridiculous healing factor at this point. For him to be able to ingest the Shinigami mushroom itself though…." He shook his head. "Do you think shinobi-made poison will have any effect?"

Sarutobi thought for a moment, the smoke rolling around his Hokage hat. "I think," he began thoughtfully, "that if it is a chakra-targeting poison, it may have some effect. As for those that directly target his biology, I think that the Kyuubi's chakra will eliminate the enzymes before they have a chance to damage his body's organs. It does certainly seem like an advantage." He said, giving a small chuckle, reading Iruka like a book. You didn't get this far without learning how to read people, after all. "But alas, there is still the curse that comes with it."

Iruka nodded, seeming lost for any idea towards a new conversation. Hiruzen took the opportunity to ask lightly, "How is Naruto-kun? I haven't seem much of him lately; he used to stop by quite often."

Iruka actually smiled at this. "He's made several friends, Hokage-sama." Iruka said, obviously pleased he could report something not troubling. "Hyuuga Hinata, Uchiha Sasuke, and Aburame Shino." The wizened shinobi nodded at the first name, having seen them together on several occasions himself. At the second name, however, he tensed slightly.

"The younger brother of Itachi?" he asked, keeping the worry out of his voice. Iruka nodded.

"The very same. I had suggested it to him, but I didn't actually imagine he's pull Sasuke out of his shell. He's pretty dedicated to catching up to his brother, but I don't think anyone can. Do you?"

Sarutobi shook his head, harsh memories of the latest secret meeting playing in his head. "I would be hard-pressed to keep up with him." He said honestly, earning a look of surprise from Iruka. "I think Kakashi would have equal trouble with him, but might be a bit more adept at it than I, due to his Sharingan."

Iruka nodded at that. Kakashi had previously achieved the rank of ANBU captain at the youngest age yet, until Itachi had taken the record from him. They were both incredibly powerful ninja, and he couldn't say which of them would win, if they had fought.

Hiruzen, meanwhile, had troubling thoughts of his own. 'The peace talks aren't playing out as well as I'd hoped.' He thought sadly. 'Itachi...being forced to spy on your own family...hopefully this can be resolved soon.' Sometimes the hardest part of running a village, was making the decisions that would harm and ostracize people that didn't deserve it.

* * *

There, another chapter blasted out. I'm glad to say that I've topped 5K a chapter so far, and it feels comfortable. When we get to more battle-intensive scenes, the word count will probably jump a little more.

On a side note, I finally watched Naruto: The Last today. I wished the fights could have been a bit longer, but overall I fucking loved it. Gotta love that NaruHina.

Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, will be back soon.

EDIT: I can see with the limited interaction between Sarutobi and Iruka, how people might think that the third was completely serious in saying that Itachi could defeat him. Don't forget that the third puts a LOT of stock into his shinobi, almost to the point of overconfidence, while remaining cautious enough to not send them on suicide missions. While he could take on Itachi, and win, he would rather put forth confidence into the younger generation of shinobi than himself. That's my reasoning on the scene.


	5. Training and Tragedy

Hey you guys, glad to see you're still with me. I realize that I've introduced a few dynamics into the story that not everyone will agree with, and the story itself is going to come down to a lot of theory based things. Such as effects of events on someone's psych, how certain jutsu or chakra affects the body, and how people react to different events. That being said, besides the story arcs, some characters might go OOC from canon, at least in the majority of situations. That being said, if you're not a fan of this, by all means stop reading. I don't wish to make you upset by the way I pan this story out. Now that I've said that bit, however, the characters are being developed in my head, and I have a plan for them. If a character isn't acting like you think they should, don't bitch about it. I am, unfortunately, still filtering out reviews that are blatant hate messages. Again, I implore anyone that's upset with the story but wants to continue it, PM me to see if we can't come to an understanding. If you really can't stand it though, just stop reading. There are plenty of quality Naruto fics out there.

I REALLY hope that's the last time I have to post this shit up again. It's really troublesome.

 **KilluaGodspeed** – Don't worry, I did read all of it, and those are definitely some interesting ideas. I can't give anything away though, obviously, so we'll have to see how they, if any, pan out. Thanks for giving me a few suggestions to go off of though, it's definitely helpful.

 **Selet** – I have to disagree. While I agree that the Uzumaki were a long-lived people, and they did have a certain resistance to illness, I don't think that would include their skin and muscle repairing itself after mere hours. It has seemed to me that Naruto's healing increases with the emergence of the Kyuubi, which would lead me to believe that Kurama's chakra itself is the defining factor. Another thing, when Sasuke rammed his chidori through Naruto's chest at the valley of end, he lived it, though barely. When Kurama's claw went through Kushina the night she gave birth, she might have lived if she had Naruto's healing, but since I think it's tied to the Kyuubi and he was out of her, she died. That can also be attributed to her having her bijuu ripped out of her and weakened, but I really believe Kurama is the one with the healing power. Most powerful of the 9 tailed beasts, after all.

 **GUEST** – Wish I could point out a specific one, but with no names I hope this person will understand that I'm answering their comments. Any shinobi in the field, or training before a mission would not care for fairness at all. However, you must remember that these are kids in the academy, and Hinata's only goal is to stay close to Naruto to protect him. This may include toning her full potential down around him (although in this case it's only with the weapons practice) to instill some more confidence in him and encourage him to practice more. After all, the stronger he becomes, the less likely he'll die. As for him beating Hinata in endurance, there isn't much she can do about that. It takes a decent amount of time to increase chakra reserves by any significant amount, and with Naruto already having a massive head start, his endurance being top notch is given.

Thanks again, to everyone who reviews. Your kind words keep me wanting to write, and they're always welcome. There will be a short A/N at the end as well pertaining to future updates, in case anyone is extra-persistent on reading this.

All that aside, let's begin.

* * *

 _Iruka nodded, seeming lost for any idea towards a new conversation. Hiruzen took the opportunity to ask lightly, "How is Naruto-kun? I haven't seem much of him lately; he used to stop by quite often."_

 _Iruka actually smiled at this. "He's made several friends, Hokage-sama." Iruka said, obviously pleased he could report something not troubling. "Hyuuga Hinata, Uchiha Sasuke, and Aburame Shino." The wizened shinobi nodded at the first name, having seen them together on several occasions himself. At the second name, however, he tensed slightly._

 _"The younger brother of Itachi?" he asked, keeping the worry out of his voice. Iruka nodded._

 _"The very same. I had suggested it to him, but I didn't actually imagine he's pull Sasuke out of his shell. He's pretty dedicated to catching up to his brother, but I don't think anyone can. Do you?"_

 _Sarutobi shook his head, harsh memories of the latest secret meeting playing in his head. "I would be hard-pressed to keep up with him." He said honestly, earning a look of surprise from Iruka. "I think Kakashi would have equal trouble with him, but might be a bit more adept at it than I, due to his Sharingan."_

 _Iruka nodded at that. Kakashi had previously achieved the rank of ANBU captain at the youngest age yet, until Itachi had taken the record from him. They were both incredibly powerful ninja, and he couldn't say which of them would win, if they had fought._

 _Hiruzen, meanwhile, had troubling thoughts of his own. 'The operation is supposed to take place in only a few days. I'm sorry Naruto…it looks like you'll have to learn the pain of losing someone dear to you early on.' He thought sadly. Sometimes the hardest part of running a village, was making the decisions that would harm and ostracize people that didn't deserve it. And Naruto, definitely, didn't deserve it._

* * *

Naruto stood very still, his face the very definition of concentration. It would work this time, it had to. Everything was riding on this one attempt at success.

'Focus….' He though, breathing slowly. His heart rate slowed, just enough that he could feel at least slightly calm about the situation. He grit his teeth, slapped his hands into the tiger seal, and…

"Bunshin no jutsu!"

 _Poof_. A white, very papery looking Naruto appeared before him, looking as if it had been drawn by a four year old. It made to raise it's flimsy arms, before falling backwards slowly. It hit the ground and disappeared with a pitiful puff of smoke, as Naruto stared at the spot it had vanished, his eyebrow twitching.

"Well, at least I could tell it was you, moron." Sasuke said jokingly, a smirk settling on his face. "But it wasn't successful. You owe me and Hinata-san ramen."

Naruto hung his head. He had bet Sasuke that with all the chakra control exercises he had done the past 5 months he had been training with Hinata, he could finally make a perfect clone. Needless to say, he had failed.

"I was looking forward to free ramen too…" he said dully, imagining how flat his frog wallet would be after treating his two friends.

"Oi, cheer up." Sasuke said, shaking his head at the blonde's antics. "It won't be long until you can make a clone."

Naruto shook his head, drawing a surprised look from Sasuke. He'd never seen Naruto give up on anything, but he looked so dejected about this particular jutsu. "I've been trying for so long, and I haven't really made much progress on it. I just don't know what to do…" he sighed, running a hand through his spiky blonde hair.

Off to the side, Hinata watched him with concern in her eyes. This side of Naruto was usually one he didn't allow others to see. His self-doubt and apprehension weren't widely known, and while she should be happy that he trusted them enough to let them see it, she wasn't sure that she liked it.

"N-Naruto-kun…." She called softly. Naruto turned his head towards her, still looking dejected. "I know y-you'll get it." She said, a strong conviction in her voice. Naruto blinked.

"How do you know that, Hinata-chan?" he asked, still doubt in his voice. She shook her head slowly, her violet tresses falling around her face.

"I just d-do." She replied, blushing slightly and poking her fingers together. "Y-you….you can do a-anything, Naruto-kun…" she finished, hiding her face from sight.

There was a pause before she looked back up, but when she did, Naruto was grinning broadly at her. Her breath caught in her throat; would she ever get used to seeing his smile like that at her? She doubted it.

"You're right, Hinata-chan!" he said brightly, walking over to give her a hug. Sasuke watched her face go twenty shades darker, and he chuckled. It was always amusing to see the way Naruto affected Hinata. She could go from threatening powerhouse to a babbling pile of mush in less than a second.

"They look cute, don't you think so, Sasuke?"

Sasuke wheeled around, his eyes lighting up. "Itachi-niisan!" he exclaimed, walking quickly forward to embrace his elder sibling. Itachi smiled and returned the embrace, watching the other pair eye him curiously.

"You must be Naruto-kun." Itachi said, a smile playing on his features. "And you, Hinata-san."

They both nodded, and Naruto stepped forward. "You're Sasuke's older brother?" he asked, a certain light in his eyes. "I heard you were really strong, y'know?"

Itachi shrugged, his eyes gleaming playfully. "That's what they like to tell me."

He turned to Sasuke, and Sasuke truly looked at his brother's eyes. They looked tired, stressed, and worst of all, pained. He hadn't seen his brother in some time; what could have happened to force away the kindness that used to be ever present?

"Itachi-niisan, are you ok?" Sasuke said lowly, his voice full of concern. "You look…worn."

Itachi's eyes widened for a fraction of a second, before he assumed a downtrodden expression.

"It's Shisui…he's…dead."

Sasuke's eyes widened. Shisui was Itachi's best friend.

"What? How?" he asked, his tone conveying his anger and concern. Itachi allowed himself to smile.

"It is an unknown, but one I am investigating." He said, turning to address Naruto. "But I didn't come to discuss my own hardships. I came to check on the progress of your guys' training."

Naruto's entire face lit up as if he was just given a ticket to free ramen for life at Ichiraku. "R-REALLY?!"

Itachi chuckled as the young blonde jumped and punched the air, unable to contain his excitement. "Yes, Naruto-kun. Now, I'd like you to show me your bunshin no jutsu."

Naruto stopped dead in his tracks, an expression of terror etched onto his face. "O-Oh…Uh…I-Itachi-san…"

"I know you're not adept at it, Naruto-kun, and there's nothing wrong with that." Itachi said patiently, giving Sasuke a meaningful look. "We ALL have our strengths and weaknesses."

Sasuke nodded, acknowledging the subliminal message, while Naruto gulped and put his hands into the familiar seal. "Bunshin no jutsu!"

The same ghostly Naruto appeared as before, except now Itachi was right next to it, examining it with strange, red eyes.

Naruto jumped back; he hadn't seen the older boy move at all. 'Holy crap is he fast…' he thought, seeing him eye his clone with interest.

Itachi glanced at Hinata, his dojutsu deactivating. "I assume you've already told him he's using too much chakra?"

Hinata nodded tightly, her eyes wary. New people, especially powerful ones, didn't sit well with her. Her eyes flickered to Naruto, who seemed to cling to Itachi's every word.

Itachi gave her a small smile, and saw her relax slightly. "Now then, Naruto-kun, are you truly using as little chakra as possible?"

Naruto nodded, looking confused. Itachi thought for a moment, his eyes shut, before glancing up at the still waiting blonde.

"Naruto-kun, I'm going to teach you a different version of the bunshin jutsu; one that I think you'll take better to."

Naruto's face conveyed the same excitement as earlier at being taught by elite Anbu, and he stood, shaking in place with pure joy.

Sasuke looked at Naruto with obvious jealousy on his face. Itachi chuckled, poking Sasuke in the middle of his forehead with two fingers.

"Sasuke, you are not to use this jutsu until your future sensei gives you permission when you're out of the academy, got it?"

Sasuke looked at his brother in outrage, but Itachi raised a placating hand. "I know that you've noticed Naruto's abnormally large chakra reserves. That is the only reason he will be able to use this jutsu. You have a long way to go before you build up your reserves enough to be able to use this. Try before, and you might kill yourself." He finished with a serious tone, looking at Hinata as well. She nodded, understandin the risks were just as strong for her.

Itachi looked back at Naruto, who was jumping up and down in his excitement. "Now, Naruto-kun, the clones you will be making are called 'shadow' clones. They differ from regular clones, as they will appear with a body of their own, as real as you or I. Due to this, they take a great deal more chakra than the illusory clones, so not many shinobi can utilize them very well. When you use the technique, the clones you create will take equal parts of your chakra. Make too many clones, and you may not be left with enough chakra to live. That is the risk of the jutsu."

Naruto nodded, running through all the information in his head. "So…if I make two clones, they each have a third of my chakra?"

Itachi nodded. "Yes. Although, when dispelled, any chakra remaining in them will return to you. You must also remember that the more chakra you put into the clones, the sturdier they will be. Observe."

Itachi made a hand-sign, and instantly 10 others of himself appeared in the clearing. Naruto gazed wondrously at them, his excitement beginning to take hold again. Itachi threw a single shuriken at each of the clones, and they all dispelled as the singular weapon struck them. Once again, Itachi made the sign to create a single clone. This time, when the shuriken struck the clone, it began to bleed, but didn't dispel. A swift strike to the neck did the job, however, and Itachi looked back to Naruto. He could see the gears turning in his head.

"So….the more clones I make, the weaker they are?" Naruto asked tentatively, scratching his head. Itachi smiled.

"Yes, although not physically. They will just be able to take less damage before dispelling." Itachi said, before looking thoughtful. "I would also like you to keep in mind that when you begin nature manipulation down the road, you can infuse your clones with any chakra nature you are proficient in. This can create some devastating traps, ones that move and strike like you."

Naruto nodded, feeling his excitement build with the elder Uchiha's every word. "Alright! I'm ready!"

Itachi nodded as well, smiling softly at the young boy. "Simply place your hands into a modified tiger seal as I did, gather your chakra as if you were creating a clone, and release the jutsu."

Naruto nodded, placing his hands into the abnormal handsign. He began building his chakra, his eyes closed in concentration. He slowly got what he felt was the right amount, and his eyes snapped open, a determined look in them.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he exclaimed, before a cloud of smoke enveloped the area surrounding him.

Hinata squinted, eager to see if the new jutsu had worked out for the object of her admiration. As the smoke cleared, however, she didn't spot any other spiky blonde heads. Concerned, she started looking more closely, when…

"Why is everyone so big, y'know?" A tiny voice rang out. Hinata looked down, and spotted two tiny Naruto's scratching their heads and looking up at everyone present. Naruto looked in disbelief at the two doll-sized clones he had made, before yelling at them in a comical voice.

"HEY, WHY AREN'T YOU MY SIZE!"

"It's not our fault you moron! Why didn't you make us bigger?"

"Yeah, you tryin to make fun of us? You lookin to fight?"

The two tiny Naruto's began brandishing their fists at their creator, but before they could do anything, two gentle hands had swooped in and picked them up.

"W-wooahh!" they turned to see who had picked them up. They were met with pale eyes gazing at them, causing the two to smile bashfully.

"Hey, Hinata-chan, let us down! It's embarrassing, y'know?" one said, grinning.

Hinata didn't say anything, but her eyes grew strange, and the real Naruto was giving her an odd look. "Hinata-chan…?" he said with a questioning tone. She gave him a fierce look.

"These small Narutos….are just too cute!" she said, her voice the epitome of seriousness.

Naruto blinked, unsure of what to say to that. Hinata began to prod the small Naruto's, much to their playful displeasure.

Itachi laughed a little at the spectacle, causing Naruto to whip back around to face him, flushing slightly with embarrassment. "S-Sorry, Itachi-san, I didn't make-"

"You did well, Naruto-kun." Itachi said seriously, causing Naruto's face to twist into one of confusion. "For your first attempt, those are good shadow clones. They resemble you in every way, I believe, and once you tweak how you actually gather and form the chakra, you'll have full-sized shadow clones at your disposal. Good job." He finished, smiling lightly at the blonde.

Naruto nodded vigorously, his grin threatening to split his face in two. "Thank you…Itachi-san. Thank you thank you THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!" he finished, bounding forward to hug Itachi around the middle. Itachi chuckled again, patting the blonde's heading, before dislodging Naruto from around his waist.

"All of you, keep training hard." Itachi said, smiling at the three. "Konoha will always be a target to those jealous of our peace and prosperity. It will need strong shinobi to protect it, and you three must contribute to that strength."

They all nodded, and Itachi leapt off, his thoughts much darker than his outside demeanor.

'Konoha will always be a target….even to those within the village. Sasuke...you need to grow strong. So that someday…you can avenge our parents, and our clan.'

Sasuke sighed as he watched his brother leap off. "Man, Itachi-niisan barely teaches me any new jutsu. What makes you so special?" he commented to Naruto, smiling as he did so. Naruto smiled back, but didn't speak. He went back to trying to create more shadow clones, and before he knew it, Hinata was now managing a small pile of different sized (but all miniature) Naruto's.

Sasuke shook his head, bid farewell to his friends, and made his way home.

 _ **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**_

The next few days were uneventful for the young shinobi attending the Academy. Naruto had gotten his shadow clones to reach half his height now, and was slowly growing them by manipulating how he formed his chakra. Hinata was running 20+ kilometers a day, to assist in training her endurance, and Sasuke was working on both his physical speed, and expanding his chakra reserves. After a particularly grueling training session, Sasuke lay on the ground panting, having performed 5 complete Fire Release – Great Fireballs in a row. His previous limit had been 3, with a meager fourth one, so his completion of 5 seemed a very large success.

"Sasuke-san…" Hinata chastised, helping him to his feet. "You really shouldn't work yourself into the ground. You'll get hurt, and then Naruto-kun will get worried…"

Sasuke grimaced, trying to hold himself up, and failing to do so. He leaned on Hinata's shoulder, giving her an apologetic look. As if on cue, Naruto walked into the clearing with a clone three quarters of his size trotting after him, looking just as enthused.

"Hey guys! Look at how big they're….Sasuke? Are you alright?" Naruto asked, the clone dispelling.

Sasuke nodded, giving the blonde a smirk. "Of course, just used a bit too much chakra. I'm gonna head home and get some rest, we've been at it for hours out here."

Naruto blinked, looking to the sky. It was already night; he hadn't realized it with how absorbed he was in mastering his jutsu.

"Oh man, you're right." Naruto said, a look of chagrin on his face. "Crap, I just remembered that I told Iruka-sensei I'd meet him for ramen…"

"Go, Naruto-kun." Hinata said, smiling at him. Naruto looked up, reluctance in his eyes, but she shook her head. "I-It's ok, Naruto-kun. I'll h-help him back to h-his compound, you go eat w-with Iruka-sensei."

Naruto furrowed his brows, but reluctantly nodded. He strode forward, giving Sasuke a fist-bump, and rumpling Hinata's hair like Itachi had done to him. He had enjoyed it enough, and Hinata didn't look like she hated it. She had ducked her head, a furious blush adorning her face. Naruto shrugged. That never was a bad sign, after all. Just a weird one he hadn't interpreted yet. "Alright, I'll see you guys tomorrow!" he said, before turning and leaping off in the direction of Ichiraku.

Thankfully, since the training ground they used was secluded, it was also nearby the Uchiha compound, which had been relocated to a remote corner of the village some 5 years previous. Sasuke and Hinata walked in comfortable silence, before Sasuke decided to break it, asking the question that had been nagging him for several weeks.

"Hey, Hinata-san…" he began, pausing until he received a sideways glance from the girl. "Why….do you try so hard for Naruto?"

To his surprise, she didn't react to his question at all. Her eyes shifted back to the path in front of them, and Sasuke was about to think she would ignore his question when she began to speak.

"Naruto…is the kindest, most determined person I know." She said softly, yet firmly. Sasuke glanced at her, and saw the look she often adopted when the blonde-haired youth was involved. "He never gives up, ever. You know he saved me, once. There were these boys, who were picking on me because of my family. I was weak back then…I still think I am now." She smiled, but it didn't seem to reach her eyes. "But then especially so. They were about to beat me up a little, I think, when Naruto came to my rescue. He didn't even know me, but he challenged them, and got beat up for it."

Sasuke saw her eyes narrow, the corners filling up ever so slightly with angry tears. "They left him lying there, and I wanted to help him. My caretaker, Ko, refused to let me. I started…seeing him more." She blushed slightly, almost revealing that she had turned into a stalker. "The villagers treat him terribly. It makes me angry every time I see it…but he never gave up. No matter who walks over him, or insults him, he yells right back and keeps his smile on his face."

Sasuke nodded slowly, taking in the information about his new friend. "…I've noticed you're protective of him. Why is that, if he's never going to give up?"

Sasuke watched her face contort into one of pain. She bit her lip, looking at him sideways. "I…saw something. A group of people. They hurt him….really bad…." She cast her gaze towards the ground, a few tears falling freely. "I…I thought he was dead. But then I saw him again, a short time later, and he was just as he always was…." She wiped at her eyes with her other arm, her eyes daring Sasuke to make a comment. He didn't.

"After that, I made a promise to myself that I would do everything I could to protect Naruto-kun. No matter what."

Sasuke remained silent, thinking about everything the bluenette had said. It certainly seemed like Naruto had a rough childhood; he hadn't known the blonde to get physically abused. He knew he was an orphan, but not that he had to struggle just to get along in the village.

They rounded a corner, and saw the entrance to the Uchiha compound. Sasuke narrowed his eyes slightly; it was…surprisingly quiet. Usually there was at least a few kids out playing around this time; seeing as how their compound was so secluded, there were no real threats lurking in the night.

"Hinata….somethings wrong…." Sasuke murmured, drawing his arm back to him and slumping forward slightly. Ow, his body hurt. He didn't fall though, and he took a few slow steps forward, before starting forward at a steady pace towards the entrance to his home. Hinata followed a few paces behind, looking tense as well. She lived in a similar compound, and could recognize the eerie quiet that had fallen.

As they drew near to the gate, Sasuke's pace quickened. "If we find Itachi-niisan, he'll be able to explain things." He said confidently, stepping through the arch that marked the Uchiha's territory. "He'll tell us what's…going…"

Sasuke's mind slowed to a stop. On the ground, slumped near an alley-way, was a dead shinobi, his tanto loosely in his hand, a clean slice across his throat.

Sasuke's stomach heaved, but he kept it in check. He could feel his fear begin to rise, and he grasped wildly for Hinata. She quickly offered him her hand, looking horrified at the body just meters away.

"S-Sasuke-kun…" she said, fear evident in her voice. "Lets…lets go tell someone…"

Sasuke started forward, pulling her with him. "W-we need to find Itachi-niisan!" he said, his voice shrill. But as they made their way through the compound, they encountered more and more bodies, lying dead on the street, on benches, and even a few hanging precariously from balconies. They were at a dead sprint now, young eyes clenching as far shut as they could to ignore the horrors around them. Sasuke turned a corner, thrusting open a door, Hinata following quickly inside.

"OTOU-SAN! KAA-SAN! ITACHI-NIISAN!" he yelled, pounding through the house. Hinata followed fast on his heels, her fists clenched tightly, wishing they were back with Naruto.

Sasuke thrust the door to his parents room open, and froze. Hinata slowly peeked around the side of him, and felt her eyes widen in horror. There, on the ground, were Sasuke's mother and father. Dead.

Sasuke fell to his knees, tears spilling freely from his face. Why? Why were his parents dead? Who would do this?

Hinata took a step back, her young mind reeling. Flashbacks of Naruto's butchering were playing in her head, and she shook it wildly trying to force the images from her head.

As Sasuke stared at the bodies of his family, he noticed a movement in the shadow. His hand shot to Hinata's, and she nearly jumped, her eyes searching frantically. Even as they spotted him emerging from the darkness, a bloody katana in his hands, they couldn't believe it.

"I…Itachi-niisan…." Sasuke said disbelievingly, looking from his parents bodies to his brother and back. This didn't add up…

"Foolish little brother." Itachi said coldly, his eyes completely devoid of the warmth Hinata had remembered in them.

"N-Niisan…who…who killed our parents…our clan…?" Sasuke asked, his voice shaking violently. He didn't want to believe…he couldn't believe…

"I did." He said simply, slowly wiping the blood off of his blade. Sasuke's eyes clenched shut, his fingernails drawing blood from his palms as his fists tightened.

"This is a nightmare…." He muttered, as he began to pinch his arm harder and harder. "I'm dreaming…I'm dreaming…."

"This is no dream, Sasuke." Itachi said, his voice completely empty of emotion. "This is reality. Our parents, our clan…are no more."

"WHHYY?!" Sasuke screamed, tears still falling from his face. "WHY DID YOU DO IT?! WHY!?"

Itachi tilted his head, as if confused by the question. "Why…? To test my strength, of course."

Sasuke's eyes widened in shock and disbelief, and the tears stopped falling. "Wh…what?"

Hinata's eyes were wide as well. To test his strength? He murdered everyone…to test…his strength?

"Foolish little brother." Itachi repeated, "Everyone is always telling me what a genius I am, how I could be the most powerful Uchiha to appear in generations. What good are words…I needed proof. So I decided to wipe out our clan…with these eyes." He finished, activating his Sharingan. Sasuke and Hinata watched in disbelief as the three tomoe that comprised his Sharingan twisted into the likeness of a shuriken. Sasuke rose to his feet shakily, stepping backwards towards the door. Hinata was just behind him, and stepped back as well. They needed to get out of here…he would kill them….

"What…what is that?" Sasuke asked, hesitation in his voice. "That's…not a regular Sharingan."

"This is the evolution of the Sharingan." Itachi said, sheathing his sword. "It is…powerful."

Sasuke looked as if he were about to throw up. "You..you murdered our family…to test your eyes?! ITACHI-NI-" Itachi was suddenly before the two of them, fists planted in both of their guts. Sasuke and Hinata both doubled over, coughing violently as the air was expelled from them. They fell to the ground, clutching their stomachs.

"The two of you…." He said with disinterest, "Are too weak. I don't need to compare myself with the likes of you."

Sasuke heard his footsteps leave the room, through his family's house, and finally exiting outside. Everything became quiet, save for Sasuke's quiet sobs. Hinata slowly pushed herself to her knees, sucking in deep breaths. She averted her eyes from the pair of corpses, and pulled on Sasuke's arm.

"S-Sasuke-kun…we n-n-need to go…" she urged, panic and fear in her voice. They had to leave before the elite Uchiha changed his mind about not killing them. Didn't Sasuke realize the danger they were in.

Sasuke's face rose to meet hers, and she stepped back at the unbridled fury that lay upon it. "ITACHIIII!" he bellowed, throwing himself towards the door as he sprinted towards his departed brother. Hinata followed, pleading with Sasuke to leave, but he wouldn't listen. He spotted his brother walking down the street, almost nonchalantly. Sasuke felt his anger boil over as he whipped a handful of shuriken from his holster, which was still attached to his waist from his earlier training. He whipped them at frightening speeds towards Itachi, who turned on the spot, catching all of them out of the air as if they were lobbed gently at him. Sasuke rushed forward, aiming a punch at his brother's torso. Itachi caught the fist easily, swung him in a circle and threw him towards Hinata, watching as they crumpled into a heap together.

"Foolish little brother." Sasuke grit his teeth, that mantra was infuriating him. "Did you think you really had a chance as you are now? Here, let me show the both of you…our difference in powers."

They both raised their gaze to Itachi's, and before they could realize their mistake, they were falling into inky black pools, descending into nothingness…

 _ **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**_

Sasuke pushed himself to his knees, looking around himself in a panic. Where was he? Where was Itachi? His gaze was drawn by two figures, kneeling in the center of a room. He squinted…

"Tou-san? Kaa-san?" he whispered, clambering to his feet and running towards them. He was abruptly caught by his throat and pinned to a wall that previously didn't exist behind him, and his eyes fell level with that of his brothers.

"Welcome, foolish little brother…" Itachi said in an empty voice. "To Tsukiyomi."

Sasuke writhed, trying to escape his brother's grip, when he felt a blade plunged into his shoulder. He gasped, before screaming in pain, nearly blacking out when a similar one was thrust into his other shoulder, pinning him to the wall.

He watched as Itachi strode behind their parents, drawing yet another sword, lowering it to his father's throat.

"Time passes here much slower than that of the real world." Itachi said in a detached voice, before slashing. Sasuke yelled as his father slumped to the ground, lifeless, blood pouring from his slashed throat. Hot tears streamed down Sasuke's face as Itachi lowered the point of the blade to align with his mother's heart.

"While an entire day passes in here, only a second passes in reality." Itachi said calmly, before thrusting the blade through the woman that had cared for Sasuke since the day he was born. Sasuke's screams didn't cease, despite the pain that had begun to bloom in his throat. The pain in his shoulders seemed minuscule compared to the one he felt in his heart. He was being forced to watch his parents being murdered, right in front of him, by the very brother had idolized. He clenched his eyes shut, wishing the entire thing away, and when he opened his eyes his parents were kneeling placidly on the floor again, not a single drop of blood in sight. His eyes widened as he saw Itachi watching him calmly, his sword still in hand.

"I control everything that happens in here." Itachi said, leaning into the blade to drive it slowly through his fathers chest. Sasuke watched in mute horror as his dad choked on his own blood before falling onto his side, his crimson life-fluid leaking from his still open mouth onto the floor. "You will endure the sight of our pitiful parents dying, again and again….for 72 hours."

Sasuke felt sobs wrack his body as he watched Itachi impale their mother upon his blade again, her pain-filled eyes searching his for help.

That look would haunt him for years to come.

 _ **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**_

Hinata stumbled backwards, her Byakugan flaring. Where was she? She couldn't see anything…just inky blackness….wait…

She started sprinting. Naruto was there, running towards her, concern etched onto his face. He reached a hand towards her, he was nearly there.

His eyes widened and he looked down at his chest. Hinata followed his gaze, and to her horror, a blade had sprouted from where his heart would be, blood flowing from the wound.

His eyes bore into hers with a look of surprised anguish. "Hi…nata…chan…" he muttered, before the light left his cerulean orbs. Hinata felt herself break. Naruto…couldn't be dead. There was no way. This was a dream. This wasn't real.

She felt her head snap back as she was tossed by it, launching her into a tree. Her back struck it hard, and she slid to the bottom, her vision blurring.

"Welcome, young Hyuuga, to Tsukiyomi."

Her eyes struggled to focus on the man standing before her, and before she could move, the roots of the tree worked their way around her, binding her to the massive trunk. She began to struggle against the bindings, unable to move, when she froze.

"HINATA-CHAN!"

She focused her eyes on an orange blob that was rapidly approaching, wincing as it dropped to her side.

"N…Naruto-kun?" she whispered. As if in a dream, the blonde nodded tensely, resting his hand on her cheek.

"Did he hurt you, Hinata-chan?" the boy said, anger in his eyes. Hinata shook her head, tears spilling freely.

"I thought…I th-th-thought you w-w-w-were…d….d…"

"I'm right here, Hinata-chan." Naruto said, offering a confident smile. Hinata felt her hopes rise. Naruto would save her. He never gave up…not until he accomplished what he wanted.

Naruto turned and faced Itachi. "You'll pay for what you did to Hinata-chan." He said, rushing at the elder boy. He threw a vicious right hook that followed with a backwards roundhouse, using all his speed and agility to try and strike Itachi. Hinata saw immediately that it was in vain, but before she could yell for him to run away, Itachi rammed his katana into Naruto's throat. Hinata's eyes widened as blood began seeping from his mouth, his eyes turning wildly to hers.

"…ata…chan…." He gurgled out, his eyes rolling into the back of his head. "….run…"

She screamed as his body slumped to the ground, devoid of life.

"In this world." Itachi said coldly, "You will experience the greatest pain you can imagine…for 72 hours."

Hinata barely registered his words. Naruto was dead before her eyes, and she was powerless to help him. Was all the training, all the time she put forth to get strong for him for nothing? All the praise she'd managed to get from her clan, growing from the worthless heiress to the strong willed princess?

"HINATAA!"

She turned tear filled eyes to see Naruto, completely unharmed, sprinting towards her, fury in his blue eyes.

"NOO!" Hinata screamed, struggling unsuccessfully to free herself from her bindings. "NARUTO-KUN RUN, HE'LL KILL YOU NARUTO-KUN RUN AWAY!"

Naruto didn't listen, however, and as he was about to reach her, was thrown backwards slightly as a blade neatly sliced his chest open. She watched, screaming, as Itachi walked up to the now prone boy, and rammed his sword through the fresh wound he had made. Hinata's sobs turned to hyperventilation. This was too much. She was going to go mad…

And suddenly, in the middle of what seemed like the 50th Naruto being murdered before her eyes, the void of darkness was gone, as were the dead Naruto's around her. The Uchiha compound came into focus for one, pain filled second, and then she passed out. Itachi grimaced, deactivating his dojutsu and gripping his head. He watched, heartbroken, as Sasuke slumped to the ground next to his friend.

'It seems it's beyond my ability to perform the full Tsukiyomi on two at once…' Itachi thought, his eyes throbbing. It had only been half the time it should have been. 'Nevertheless I think I got to Sasuke…Young brother, I hope you garner the power to kill me, and free me of this sin.'

Itachi leapt quickly towards the Hokage tower, to inform the Sandaime of his actions. They had not been ordered directly by him, but his council member, Danzo. He would still need to be informed, however. And warned; that if anyone were to harm Sasuke… he would be back.

* * *

A little darker of a chapter here, huh? Still, it came out exactly as I'd hoped it would. Remember, constructive criticism welcomed. Blatant flaming will not be tolerated. I'll update my profile tomorrow with news on my schedule for this week, although like I said earlier, I'll be away for a month and a half very soon. I'll continue to write during this time, but I won't have time to update. Ok, I might have time to update once if I get REALLY lucky, but that'll still be two weeks down the road, so don't get your hopes up too much. Hope you guys are enjoying this as much as I am. See you next time.


	6. Recovery

Not much to say, besides acknowledging a few reviews. Eager to get this going.

Noahendless - Naruto didn't go along for a few reasons, and while a few of them would give away future character development that's planned, one of the foremost reasons is that I believe Itachi would not have attempted to trap all three of them in a technique that he had just unlocked. He would have most likely just knocked them out after a drawn out fight to taunt Sasuke, and we would've lost out on the development that came from Hinata and Sasuke being put through it.

Shadow of God - You know, I agree with you. And while I've been told I can play devil's advocate for days, I'll refrain from that seeing as how it's all theory based. Regardless, for the purposes of this story, the healing will be factored in with the Kyuubi.

NaruHinaRyu - Thanks for all the kind words! I recognized that it may have seemed like Hinata got significantly less time in Tsukiyomi, and I adjusted that part to play it out longer. But to answer your question directly, they both got less time than was intended. As for what kind of techniques they will learn...aww come on, I can't give that away!

TBM10 - In canon, Naruto was also older, and despite his poor training in the academy, 4 years can mean the difference when it comes to spiritual and physical growth, especially at their young age. That's why he took a bit longer than his canon counterpart.

Let's continue, shall we?

* * *

 _"HINATAA!"_

 _She turned tear filled eyes to see Naruto, completely unharmed, sprinting towards her, fury in his blue eyes._

 _"NOO!" Hinata screamed, struggling unsuccessfully to free herself from her bindings. "NARUTO-KUN RUN, HE'LL KILL YOU NARUTO-KUN RUN AWAY!"_

 _Naruto didn't listen, however, and as he was about to reach her, was thrown backwards slightly as a blade neatly sliced his chest open. She watched, screaming, as Itachi walked up to the now prone boy, and rammed his sword through the fresh wound he had made. Hinata's sobs turned to hyperventilation. This was too much. She was going to go mad…_

 _And suddenly, the void of darkness was gone, as were the dead Naruto's around her. The Uchiha compound came into focus for one, pain filled second, and then she passed out. Itachi grimaced, deactivating his dojutsu and gripping his head. He watched, heartbroken, as Sasuke slumped to the ground next to his friend._

 _'It seems it's beyond my ability to perform the full Tsukiyomi on two at once…' Itachi thought, his eyes throbbing. It had only been half the time it should have been. 'Nevertheless I think I got to Sasuke…Young brother, I hope you garner the power to kill me, and free me of this sin.'_

 _Itachi leapt quickly towards the Hokage tower, to inform the Sandaime of his actions. They had not been ordered directly by him, but his council member, Danzo. He would still need to be informed, however. And warned; that if anyone were to harm Sasuke… he would be back._

* * *

Naruto laid his head at Hinata's side, tears flowing heavily as great sobs erupted from his mouth. She had been found in a near comatose state along with Sasuke inside the Uchiha compound, surrounded by dead members of the esteemed clan. Sasuke was the only remaining survivor….except for the perpetrator.

Naruto, still weeping, clenched his fist tightly. Sasuke's brother, Itachi, was the one that did this to his two friends; half of the people he could say that he trusted. If only he'd been there…if only…

Naruto almost started choking on his own breath as new sobs climbed out of his throat. He wasn't there for them…he wasn't there…

 _FLASHBACK_

 _Naruto walked happily into the classroom the following morning, a large grin on his face, with his hands settled non-chalantly behind his head. His eyes immediately traveled to his, Hinata's, and Sasuke's seats, and his smile faltered for a fraction of a second when he saw every seat empty. The blonde shrugged it off as them running late, and the grin returned a second later, remaining in place for several minutes while he sat down and waited for his friends._

 _But they never came._

 _As the minutes ticked nearer for classes to start, Naruto's grin slid from his face. They were never this late, had something happened? Naruto's thoughts slid to the night before, when he had brushed his friends off to get food with his sensei. If they had gotten hurt because he had left them alone…_

 _He shook his head fiercely, trying to expel the intrusive thoughts. That kind of negativity was always chastised by the Third Hokage, the only person that Naruto openly confided in while growing up. The old man would smile at him, and tell him that the only way to attain happiness, was to hold his head high and his attitude optimistic. Naruto had tried to live up to the old man's words, but needless to say it was very difficult when almost everyone hated him. He had found recently, however, that it was much easier. Especially when he had people to help him through the tougher times._

 _Naruto's eyes glued to Iruka's face as he walked in, noting the deep bags under his eyes, as well as the very neutral expression on his face. Something…wasn't right. Naruto was at his desk in an instant, drawing the eyes of the entire class to him. Half of them glanced up to his seat to see the other two desks empty, before also looking to Iruka in curiosity._

 _"_ _Iruka-sensei, where's Hinata-chan and Sasuke?" Naruto asked, his voice leaking concern. He saw Iruka wince, and his heart turned to ice._

 _"…_ _.I…I would rather make the announcement to the class, Naruto…" Iruka said, his voice sounding tired. Naruto didn't move._

 _"_ _Where….are my friends…" Naruto asked, his voice shaking with suppressed emotion._

 _Iruka looked at Naruto for a second longer, taking in his slightly watery eyes, before sighing. "Here, I'll tell you in the hallway…"_

 _The other students watched as Naruto was taken into the wall by a tense looking Iruka. Several minutes passed, and the only noise be heard was Iruka's gentle murmur through the wall as he addressed Naruto._

 _Without warning, the door shot out of it's frame, causing a few people to scream. An orange blur rocketed across the room and out the window, shattering it completely. A few of the students were on their feet, looking towards the empty doorframe where Iruka was slowly making his way through it, a defeated look on his face._

 _"_ _Iruka-sensei, what's going on?" Kiba asked, his canine companion yipping his confusion as well._

 _Iruka looked to the remainder of the class, who all looked confused and worried, before sighing. Sometimes, giving him so many young minds to teach was wonderful. The ability to help them grow, mature, and strengthen each other's bonds to one another was great._

 _But it came with a downside._

 _Sometimes, you had to break their spirits; you had to give them news they couldn't comprehend, and then watch as they struggle to understand it, never the wiser to the fact that they are almost incapable of doing so without seeing the evils senior shinobi are used to encountering._

 _With a heavy heart, Iruka began to tell the class how there was no more Uchiha clan, and a brand new S-ranked missing nin from their village._

 _END FLASHBACK_

Naruto grasped Hinata's hand tightly, tear streaks staining his whiskered cheeks. He had no more tears left, only a great darkness that seemed to lay before him. How would they react when they woke up? He had left them…he wasn't there to protect them when they needed it.

Naruto felt broken as his laid by Hinata's thigh, ignorant to the twitching of the bluenette's opposite hand. They would surely hate him. Why wouldn't they? He failed them. He promised to protect them and he didn't. He thought with a sick sort of humor how happy he had been in the half a year he had been with Hinata, and the few short months with Sasuke. It was too good to be true, of course. He was bound to mess it up sooner or later. The villagers were right, he didn't deserve happiness, or love, or any of that…

Naruto fell backwards as a hard hand connected with his cheek, sending him off his seat. He raised a hand gingerly to his face, his eyes raising hesitantly to meet the angry orbs of his best friend.

His gaze immediately flickered to the floor, fresh tears managing to form in his dry eyes.

"Hi-Hinata-ch-…no, Hinata-s-sama, I…I'm so sorry that I failed you, I-"

"Naruto-kun." Hinata's voice came, sounding strangely distant. "….Shut up."

Naruto felt his heart clench at her words, a particularly nasty sob forcing its way from his mouth. He turned around wiping at his eyes as he started for the door. Crying in front of her was pitiful, and would probably only anger her more….

"Where are you going?"

He froze, turning frightened eyes to the bed Hinata was set in. He didn't dare look into her eyes.

"A-Away from you, Hinata-sama…so that…I don't-"

"Stop that."

Naruto raised his red, puffy eyes to Hinata's. Her expression didn't hold hate, or anger. It didn't hold happiness or anything else either. It seemed sort of…empty.

"…huh?" he got out, wiping at his eyes again."

"I liked -chan better." She said simply, blinking at him.

Naruto blinked back, confusion driving sadness to the back of his mind.

"I sh-shouldn't get to call you that…" Naruto said bitterly, kicking at the ground. "I don't deserve to-"

"Shut up." She said again, a frown marring her face. When Naruto didn't respond she continued. "And don't ever let me hear you saying the villagers are right about anything ever again. They're all terrible, and I'll make them pay one day."

Naruto's eyes widened as they shot to hers once again. Had he been saying his thoughts out loud? And why…

"Why are you defending me?" he asked, his voice quickly becoming frantic. "I failed you, I failed Sasuke! I wasn't there when I should have been, I went to stupid dinner instead of staying with you, I should have been there I should have…." he swayed, before slumping backwards onto the floor, leaning against the wall. "…I should have been able to protect my precious people…"

"….come here…."

Naruto looked up to see Hinata gesturing to him, the barest hint of a blush on her cheeks. Naruto shifted himself to his feet, the ghost of a smile playing at his features. That blush was something familiar…

He crawled into the bed besides Hinata, hugging her tightly. She didn't return the embrace immediately, caught by surprise that the boy had been so bold with her; she had only intended to get him back into his seat beside her, after all. She gradually sunk into it, however, allowing the walls she had unconsciously put up in her sleep come down a little. This was Naruto after all, she could confide anything to him.

Naruto smiled lightly as he saw the ends of her ears turn a little pink, backing away to see a faint blush playing on her features. It disappeared, however, as he thought to how he had failed her.

"Hinata-chan…" he began anew, his voice laced with shame. Almost immediately, Hinata shoved her face further into his chest, shaking her head frantically.

"N-No, Naruto-kun…" she said, beginning to adopt her stutter again as she was in such close proximity of the objects of her admiration. "It's n-not your fault. I promise, n-neither me or Sasuke-san are u-upset with you." She paused for a moment to look up at him, before leaning her forehead back against his chest. "And fuck the villagers."

Naruto's mouth fell open as he gawked at her language. He had begun to adopt it himself, seeing as how it was the only interaction he had with the majority of Konoha's population, but he was taught by the Sandaime to not use such language in front of women of children, as it was considered rude. To hear her curse them so openly…

Naruto started giggling, crushing the bluenette's face to his chest, causing her blush to deepen.

"You're really awesome, Hinata-chan…" he said quietly, squeezing her. "And I know you say you're not mad, but I promise to make this up to you…"

Hinata pursed her lips but didn't speak, nodding into his warm body. It wouldn't do good for her to resist, as Naruto's personality wouldn't allow him to just accept the situation as it was. He would always blame himself to some extent, and she would just have to lessen the guilt he felt by convincing him that she was fine. Which, for the most part, she was…

Her eyes darkened, unseen by Naruto. She didn't know exactly how she felt. On one hand, she could easily acknowledge that everything she'd seen was an illusion. Itachi had told her that his Tsukiyomi would be lasting 72 hours, but it hadn't seemed nearly that long. Something must have happened…

She buried her face flush against Naruto's chest, but only to hide her still distant eyes. Despite the fact that Naruto was right here, Itachi's apparent ease at killing him over and over and over….she shuddered. It had made her realize that there were much stronger people than them everywhere. She had been on a sort of high, training with Naruto day in and out, and relishing in the strength he was achieving, and the confidence he gave her. She had felt like they could take the world on, him leading the charge while she protected his back every step of the way. But her encounter with Itachi had brought her back down to earth, and she knew now that her previous way of thinking of dangerous. Not only to her, but to her Naruto-kun. If he got too confident, too sure of himself against an unknown opponent…

She gripped his shirt tightly, not noticing the gentle shakes she was receiving. It had hurt to see him die so many different times in front of her, each more brutal, and emotionally cutting than the last. She never wanted to see his blood stain the ground again, or stain _her._ She shuddered, remembering the few times where Itachi had eviscerated her Naruto-kun within inches of her face, spattering her with his blood, leaving him pale, wide and empty eyed on the ground…

"HINATA-CHAN!"

Her eyes snapped up to Naruto's, as his frantic gaze caught her. His hand came up to wipe at her cheek, and she noticed there was a trail of tears leading down her face.

"Hinata-chan…are you ok?" Naruto asked softly, removing her tears carefully with his thumb.

Hinata blinked, before lowering her head, ashamed. She was showing weakness in front of Naruto-kun, that was unacceptable. She had to be his pillar, she had to remain strong…

"You can talk to me, Hinata-chan."

Her eyes flickered back up to his hesitant expression. He looked…almost uncomfortable.

"I don't…really know how to comfort anyone. The old man usually just hugged me when I got sad, which I tried but you still seem…upset. I'm sorry, I'm kind of useless with these things…"

Hinata watched him fidget with her pillow and smooth out his shirt where he thought she was laying, admiration in her eyes. There was also a warmth that started in her stomach, and was slowly making its way through her body. It was still a good, positive feeling but…different. It was the feeling she got when Naruto brushed her hand with his, when he held her like he was now, when he praised her, when he told her she was the most important person in his life…

But now this feeling had a name, and Hinata felt her face grow hot. She knew what he was to her. She knew the fullness of her affection for him. She…she lo-

A scream ripped through the air, quickly pulling Hinata from her intimate thoughts. Sasuke was writhing on the bed, his eyes screwed shut with pain. Naruto instantly launched himself over, attempting to shake Sasuke awake.

"NNNRRGGHHAAAAHH! ITACHIIII!" Sasuke screamed, bolting upright, eyes wide and filled with righteous fury. He whipped his head around, before reality took hold, and he realized where he was. His fists clenched tightly as he glared at the sheets beneath him, clenching his teeth.

'Itachi…why…why did you take everything from me…why did you do this….'

Sasuke's head snapped up as a hand settled on his shoulder. He traced the offending appendage and found the owner to be Naruto, gazing at him solemnly.

"Sasuke…" Naruto said lowly, his gaze falling sadly to the ground. "….I'm…I'm sorry…"

Sasuke's angry expression turned to one of surprise as he took in the remorseful boy in front of him. He saw his eyes flicker to the opposite wall, and saw Hinata sitting up in bed, a slight glare directed at Naruto. He stared at Hinata until he caught her eye, desperate for someone to know the pain he went through. As he stared at her with wide, anguish filled eyes, she got his message, and nodded, her eyes flashing to Naruto.

Sasuke furrowed his brow, looking down as tears stained his eyes. Hinata had witnessed Naruto's death, then. While he….he had endured his parents murder. Over and over. But something was bothering him…

The door to their room swung open, and the Hokage stood on the other side, flanked by nurses who looked quite worried. He peeked in, spotting Sasuke rubbing his forearm across his eyes frantically, and sighed. He had been about to go home last night when Itachi had appeared, slightly bloodstained in front of him. He had recounted his secret mission, and while Sarutobi had been furious, he had ultimately understood why Danzo had gone to the lengths he had to ensure that uprising of the Uchiha clan didn't occur. That wouldn't stop him from taking retribution on the man who so blatantly ignored his post as Hokage, but that would have to wait. He had to send ANBU to collect the bodies, secret scrolls and weapons the clan possessed, and start documenting them all, as well as official forms marking Itachi as a missing-nin. And now…

"Is it alright if I come in?" he said lightly, offering the three children a kind smile. Sasuke looked at him emptily, shooting a look over to the bluenette opposite him. She gave him a nod, and he redirected the gesture to the elderly Hokage. Hiruzen smiled his thanks before shuffling in, closing the door behind him despite the nurse's protests. His face quickly adopted that of utmost seriousness, and he leveled a look of sympathy at the young Uchiha.

"Sasuke-kun." Hiruzen started, stepping to the foot of his bed. "I would like to bestow upon you my deepest apologies regarding what has happened. As soon as we got wind of what had happened, we dispatched ANBU to the area to investigate and see if we could catch Itachi, or find survivors. Unfortunately, I have nothing but bad news for both of those situations."

Sasuke gripped his blankets hard, his eyes acting as windows to his rage and grief. He had no family left…no one…

"From what we can tell, he used an advanced genjutsu on both you and Hinata-san when you confronted him." He continued, "It is most fortunate that he did not continue it longer. You both suffered some mental damage, but if you had been in it for much longer, there is no doubt that your psyches would have suffered much more, even to the point of changing your personalities for the worse. A Yamanaka went into your memories when you reported to the hospital – it was standard procedure Naruto, don't give me that look." He added, when Naruto looked like he was about to shout out in protest, "And they are currently looking into the Uchiha scrolls about what your brother dubbed 'Tsukiyomi' for lasting effects. Fortunately, our foremost genjutsu expert, Yuuhi Kurenai, has spoken to Itachi about it before. It seems that it places you into an alternate reality that stresses the mind, and makes a passing second seem like an entire day. It would appear that you both somehow escaped its power earlier than you should have, as she tells me that if someone endures the entire ordeal, it can leave someone…quite broken." He finished, offering the two children a half-smile.

Hinata watched the Sandaime without expression. She could easily see how someone can lose themselves in that place…if she had been subjected to Naruto dying for much longer than she already had…

Hiruzen watched Hinata keep a pensive stare, and frowned slightly. He had visited the Hyuuga estate and seen her on several occasions, though not for the past several months. She seemed…different to him now. He would have to look into it later. He turned back to Sasuke, to see him struggling with something.

"….Hokage-sama…." He said weakly, looking up to the elderly man with wide, frightened eyes. "…what will…I do now? I have no family…" he looked down, pain evident in expression, until it darkened. "Except….him…."

Hiruzen didn't like that look. It was reminiscent of when his student's parents had died, one that sought power, no matter the cost, to reach the end goal.

Hiruzen opened his mouth to speak, but someone else had beat him to the punch.

"Hey, Sasuke…" Naruto said slowly, causing the Uchiha's head to turn to him. "You know…I don't have any family either….but you know, I still have you guys!" he said, half-smiling at his friend. Sasuke didn't smile back.

"It's not the same." He said harshly, anger seeping into his voice. "I _had_ a family, I had my mother, and father, and…and brother… AND NOW THEY'RE ALL GONE!" he shouted, punching the bed angrily.

Naruto stayed silent for a moment, before he spoke again.

"You're right…I don't know what it's like, to have a mom and dad…but, I think I can feel like what it's like to have a brother!" he finished passionately, a fire erupting in his eyes as he stared Sasuke down defiantly. Sasuke looked taken aback.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, confusion replacing rage.

Naruto smiled, extending his fist towards the ebony haired boy. "Well, for the past few months, hanging out with you…I feel like you're the closest thing to a brother I'll get, y'know?"

Sasuke didn't talk, or blink. He simply stared at Naruto, before, very slowly, a small grin appeared on his face.

"You and me….brothers, huh…" he said to himself, looking at his hands. It was true that he had grown close to Naruto and Hinata, and spent more time with them than his own parents or brother. They weren't to blame, necessarily, his dad was the head of the clan after all, and his mother was present at all clan matters to help balances his father's more aggressive and brash nature. And Itachi was…

He cut his thoughts off. Itachi was no longer to be remembered fondly. He was a curse to Sasuke, and he would do everything in his power to get stronger, to kill him and avenge his family one day.

Sasuke nodded to Naruto, giving him the best smile he could muster at that moment, which came out as a smirk.

"I guess we are kind of brothers, aren't we…" he said, bumping Naruto's fist with his own. "In that case, you need to help your brother get strong." His face darkened, and Naruto paled a little when he saw the amount of hatred Sasuke had summoned to his features. "I need to kill Itachi one day, and I'll need all the strength I can get…"

Hiruzen watched their exchange with both happiness and sorrow. He was glad that the Uchiha had not fallen so far into darkness as to shut everyone else out, and was glad to see that his surrogate grandson had obtained such good friends. At the same time, however, he grieved to see Sasuke's reaction to his brother's unknown sacrifice, and how he was coping with his loss.

'Maybe someday you'll find out the truth…' the Sandaime thought, watching Sasuke punch Naruto playfully on the shoulder. 'I hope that you do…your brother has done more for this village than almost anyone I know…'

"Well, if that's the case." The old man said, smiling at the three of them. "You all have a week off of classes, since your progress, I daresay, is quite extraordinary." Naruto smiled brightly at the praise, while Sasuke nodded politely. Hinata, Hiruzen noted, looked down blankly, but he could sense anger behind her eyes. Why…

"Anyway, I'll let Iruka know about the situation. Naruto, don't let your skills dull in your short time off." The Sandaime teased, laughing at Naruto's affronted expression. "Your friends have a perfectly fine excuse seeing as how they're bed ridden, but you don't. Have a good day you three." And with that, he strode from the room, finally allowing the nurses inside to check on their patients.

A short time later and Sasuke found himself sleeping again, leaving Naruto and Hinata in relative privacy. Naruto pulled a chair up to Hinata's bed and looked curiously at the bluenette.

"Hey, Hinata-chan, why do you look so sad?" he asked, poking at her arm. Hinata gave a small jump as she was drawn from her thoughts again, and cursed silently.

"S-Sorry, what was that N-Naruto-kun?" she asked shyly, embarrassed that her newly christened crush had found her oblivious to her surroundings.

"I asked why you looked so sad." Naruto said, his eyebrows knitting together. "I don't like it when you're sad, you never smile, and your smile is the best!" he said, grinning at her.

Hinata blushed, poking her index fingers together. He had said her smile…was the best…

Her joy at his comment was quickly squashed as she recalled her previous thoughts, however. How would she ever find a way to bring up what she saw in Itachi's genjutsu, and how badly it had affected her? How all she thought about was how worthless she truly was to be unable to save him, even if that wasn't really him. How she felt worse than garbage about her skills, and how she was scared; scared that they would encounter just as strong as Itachi, and she would lose Naruto. For real, this time. She would see that blade plunged into his throat, hear his choked last words, watch his bright eyes fade to a life-less grey…

For the second time that day, she felt small arms encompass her. She noticed her cheeks were wet again, and she sobbed loudly. Why…why was she so weak…

"Hinata-chan, don't. Naruto said loudly, surprising her. "You're not weak at all. You're one of the strongest people I know." He said, and his words pierced her. While she was admonishing herself for emulating Naruto's action by speaking her thoughts without meaning to, she was also trying to make sense of his words.

"H…How?" she breathed, clutching his shirt.

She could almost hear him smiling. "Because you never give up, and I know I can rely on you. And you kick everyone else's ass constantly!" he added, giving her a squeeze. "Even if you were beat by Itachi, he's like, one of the best in the village, right? I remember Sasuke saying he was a chunin or jonin by our age, right? So there's nothing to feel bad about! We'll keep getting stronger, and by the time we have to fight him or anyone else like him, we'll be able to take them on for sure!"

His words held such confidence, such surety, that Hinata wanted to believe every word. But…

The Naruto that had his chest sliced open had that tone as well. The Naruto that swore he'd protect her and been decapitated spoke in that tone. The one that had his head caved in, the one who burned to death, the one whose body was made into a pin-cushion for kunai….they all spoke with the certainty that the real Naruto did. As much as she wanted to accept his words, and believe in herself as strongly as he did, she couldn't. He was right about one thing though; they would get stronger. They had to.

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

Hinata grit her teeth as he father dodged her open palm strike and retaliated with his own. She was knocked harshly to the ground, another scrape joining the numerous ones that already adorned her body.

Her father straightened up, eyeing her with slight worry.

"That will be all for today, Hinata." He said, "You have made very good progress, so there will be no need for-"

"Again." She hissed, settling into her Jyuuken stance. His eyebrows raised slightly, an uncommon show of emotion for the head of the Hyuuga clan.

"Hinata, any further training will be detrimental to you due to your current state." He said, leveling a gaze at her.

She turned her head, spat out a glob of mucus, and looked back at him.

"Again." She repeated, before rushing forward. Her muscles screamed at her in protest as she went on the offensive, throwing rapid palm strikes at her father's body. He brushed them aside with ease, but it was taking his concentration to do so. Long were the days when he could admonish her while simultaneously sparring; if he were to try and talk during their fight, she would be able to take advantage of it.

Hinata deliberately overextended her arm a bit, hoping her father would see it as a sign of fatigue. Luckily for her, he took the bait, and as he launched his counter attack, she spun around it, thrusting her palm as fast as she could towards his exposed stomach. Her victory flashed before her eyes, but was squashed as his years of experience was shown to her in the form of a skillful twist of his entire body, moving his form along her arm to gain momentum as he threw a twin set of palms into her back, knocking her onto her stomach.

Hinata cursed silently, punching the ground. That was the fastest she could push herself, and even with the tactical advantage she had bought herself, was too slow. Too weak.

She pushed herself to her feet, wobbling slightly, as she turned to face her father.

"Again."

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

Naruto sat alone in the clearing, stretching his limbs to their absolute limit. After summoning five clones to spar against, and successfully dispelling all of them, he sat in the center of the grass, sighing. It had been a week since his friends had been released from the hospital, and instead of going to class, Iruka had visited to let them know they had an additional week off of school to recuperate, provided they did some form of personal training for at least a few hours a day. Naruto had taken it as an opportunity to get his friend's spirits up, and for them to get back into the rhythm they had made for themselves, but it was in vain. Hinata hadn't appeared since she got released from the hospital, and Sasuke had only showed up once to say that he needed some time to himself, and not to expect him at least until they started school again. Naruto would have tried to train with Shino instead, remembering that he seemed friendly enough, but had no idea where to look for the boy. Naruto fell back onto the grass, watching the clouds float along the wind currents lazily.

"Naruto-san, it is good to see you here."

Naruto's gaze wandered to the voice, and he smiled as he sat up.

"Shino! How did you know I was here?"

"I didn't." The stoic boy said, "My family sometimes utilizes this training ground due to the large expanse of forest to further our tracking abilities by attempting to learn a landscape by utilizing our bugs alone. I had let some of my hive loose when they detected you and I decided to greet you."

Naruto blinked, before looking all over his body.

"Don't worry, my hive has returned to me." Shino said, adjusting his sunglasses.

Naruto grinned sheepishly. "Ah, that's good. Anyway, I'm glad you're here!"

Shino's head cocked to the side slightly as he took in the large smile on the blonde's face. "Why is that?"

Naruto's grin got wider. "Because I have no one to train with, and since you're here now, you can be my training partner!"

Shino stood silent for a second, before seating himself beside Naruto. "Where, if I may ask, are Sasuke-san and Hinata-san?"

Naruto face fell slightly. "I don't really know. I know that Sasuke wants some alone time, which is fine, but I haven't seen or heard anything from Hinata since they got out of the hospital. It's really worrying me, y'know?"

Shino nodded solemnly, recalling the reason the three of them had not shown up to classes the past few weeks. The news of the Uchiha clan massacre had spread like wildfire, and sympathy was being offered in buckets to the young Uchiha whenever he was seen. All of the girls in their class waited every day to see if he would come back to classes, hoping to be the one to comfort him. To Shino, it was…kind of repulsive.

"I'm sorry I cannot say that I have seen Hinata-san as of late. Hopefully everything can return to some sort of normality after you all return to the Academy." Shino stated, to which Naruto nodded.

"Yeah, that'll be nice. But hey, do you wanna train? Because I'm raring to go!" Naruto said enthusiastically, stretching his shoulder.

Shino thought for another moment before shaking his head. "I'm sorry Naruto-san, but my father has mandated that my training be exclusively with my hive for the day. Since it has not been long since they have integrated with me, I must get more familiar with them so as to direct them with efficiency in battle. However," he added, spotting the crestfallen look on Naruto's face, "After our classes tomorrow I would be happy to train with you."

Naruto's face lit up and he smiled broadly at the Aburame. "That's awesome! This is kind of like my training area, so you can just meet me here! And if you ever wanna train with me and Hinata-chan, and sometimes Sasuke, you can just come here!"

Shino nodded, his slight smile hidden beneath the folds of his jacket.

"Very well then, I will see you tomorrow, Naruto-san." Shino said, before leaping off into the forest.

Naruto smiled, punching his hand with renewed vigor. His friends may be acting a bit strangely, but he had confidence that they would return to normal before long. And when they did, they would continue their quest to get stronger.

* * *

Ok, here's chapter 6. There's gonna start to be some more timeskips coming up, highlighting some of the more important training steps, but ultimately working towards the start of my next arc. Gonna try and update on Fridays until further notice, but until I put something else out regarding it (or on my profile) then expect Friday updates. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, see you soon


	7. Stepping Into the Future

Hey guys. Glad to see more people putting forth some thoughts in their reviews, the feedback is really helping me shape this story. And as a quick note before I start talking about my schedule…

Really. Thank you guys, from the bottom of my heart, for taking the time to throw some words at my fic. Writers, you know what I'm talking about when I say that seeing another person take the time to help you on your journey to becoming a better author, and offering their support and encouragement, is a truly wonderful and touching thing. Really, thank you.

Anyway, enough with the mush. I will be unable to post (I'm pretty sure) starting June 27th, for at least two weeks. Now this time could be as little as a week and a half (highly, HIGHLY unlikely) or as much as say, three months. It seems odd, but I can't really control my schedule. I was told I'll be on the ship for a while and to prepare for it. That being said, the next update should be on Wednesday, but it might get pushed back a little to the weekend. If I get spry enough with my writing, I might be able to fit in two chapters before I go out. If that happens then awesome, and if it doesn't then I apologize. Regardless, I will keep my profile as updated as I can on the going-ons of my schedule. Thank you all for your patience, and after these few review answers we can begin.

Lostbasin – Thank you for the kind words on the story, and so you know, after reading about the typos, I went back through each of the chapters and corrected them. I will definitely be keeping a closer eye on grammar, as I was mainly looking for spelling errors and reused adjectives and nouns before, thanks for the help!

Winto-kun – Likewise to you, friend, I went through and corrected Tsukuyomi. Might have been a little tired when writing at that point, haha. Also, it's not necessarily that he _can't_ use it on two people at once, it was more the idea that the ability was so new to him, plus the stress of killing as many people as he had before facing Sasuke and Hinata, that he didn't have the strength or experience to trap both of them to its full effect.

Ryuujin96 – I agree with everything you had to say. Written in another way, any of those scenarios could play out easily. Don't worry though, I have a plan for everything in the long run, and I'll try and make the path there as interesting as possible.

* * *

 _"Yeah, that'll be nice. But hey, do you wanna train? Because I'm raring to go!" Naruto said enthusiastically, stretching his shoulder._

 _Shino thought for another moment before shaking his head. "I'm sorry Naruto-san, but my father has mandated that my training be exclusively with my hive for the day. Since it has not been long since they have integrated with me, I must get more familiar with them so as to direct them with efficiency in battle. However," he added, spotting the crestfallen look on Naruto's face, "After our classes tomorrow I would be happy to train with you."_

 _Naruto's face lit up and he smiled broadly at the Aburame. "That's awesome! This is kind of like my training area, so you can just meet me here! And if you ever wanna train with me and Hinata-chan, and sometimes Sasuke, you can just come here!"_

 _Shino nodded, his slight smile hidden beneath the folds of his jacket._

 _"Very well then, I will see you tomorrow, Naruto-san." Shino said, before leaping off into the forest._

 _Naruto smiled, punching his hand with renewed vigor. His friends may be acting a bit strangely, but he had confidence that they would return to normal before long. And when they did, they would continue their quest to get stronger._

* * *

Naruto panted as he drove his fist into the last of his shadow clones, the flesh quickly replacing itself with white smoke. The blonde immediately hit the ground, taking in deep breaths. After a short while, he sat up, grinning cheekily at a familiar spot in the trees, exhaling as it slid off his face. Hinata hadn't shown up to train with him for two weeks, and it was starting to wear on him. He hadn't realized before how much her presence inspired him, and drove him to success. After all, she had been the one to best everyone in the class, and had even offered to train with him! Ever since the Uchiha incident however…

Naruto watched the clouds roll by, a troubled look in his young eyes. Both Hinata and Sasuke showed back up to classes, but they weren't the same. Hinata didn't blush nearly as much as she did before, due to her exchanging significantly fewer words with him. Strangely, in the few times they did talk, she spoke of everything that the boy was going through, as if she were still by his side as much as she was. It was puzzling to say the least, but still depressing for Naruto. She was, after all, not only his first friend, but his best friend. To make matters worse, she had stopped training with him. Every time he brought it up to her, she would frown. He hated that look on her face; it wasn't natural.

'I can't Naruto-kun.' She would say, her eyes narrowing slightly. 'I have training with my father. Please understand.'

And he would nod, wishing her luck. How could he not? He felt like he failed her, despite the words they exchanged at the hospital. Why else would she distance herself so far from him?

It wasn't much different with Sasuke. The smile he had offered Naruto at the hospital had been his last, it seemed. Sasuke was always seen with a permanent scowl on his face now, his once warm onyx eyes now seeming cold and distant. Every time Naruto would approach him, eager to train with him, Sasuke would grimace at him.

'I'd rather train alone for now.' He'd said the last time Naruto had pleaded with him, hopeful for his friend to join him. 'It's…something I have to do.'

All in all, Naruto felt as if his friends had suddenly become strangers to him.

'At least Shino finds some time to come hang out…' Naruto thought, his mind shifting to the stoic boy.

While Shino also had extensive training to do with his clan due to his insect companions, he had made it a point to train with Naruto once a week. While much of their training was endurance based (due to the Aburame not physically conditioning himself much outside of learning his family's taijutsu), Naruto found that he found a good amount of joy listening to Shino talk about the various insects that roamed in the forest surrounding them. Shino happily told Naruto about the specific abilities of the more special ones that the Aburame utilized, and the blonde found their range of uses to be, as he put it, 'super awesome'.

Their meetings were spread apart, however, and Naruto only saw him about once a week. It was due to all of this that Naruto found himself alone again, physical clones of himself his only company. He sighed again as the solitude kicked in, letting his walls crumble away. He put up a front to almost everyone, but in reality, he was as scared as he was when he was first kicked out of the orphanage. He had found friendship, but it seemed like that was not to last. Was it his destiny to be alone? It seemed that Hinata and Sasuke had started to avoid him; would Shino be the same story later on, when he discovered that Naruto wasn't worth his time?

His eyes lost their usual spark as he stared into the sky, unaware of the pale eyes that watched him, unusually wet.

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

 **ONE YEAR LATER**

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

Naruto grunted as his leg connected hard with the wood, shattering the surface of the log with ease. He quickly spun on his heel, withdrawing the leg to increase his speed, before lashing out with a vicious roundhouse. The core of the tree splintered and the top of the log shattered beneath the power of the blonde's kick. Naruto let out the breath he had been holding in, before smiling to himself. Sparring daily with his clones had increased his reaction time tenfold, and he had gotten the feel of close-quarters combat as a result. Although he would have liked to step away from all the physical training he had done (along with the usual weapons training), he didn't have anything else to practice. This had formed a pit of malcontent in his stomach, and he often took out his frustration on any training posts that dared offend him by looking a little too sturdy, almost screaming 'You couldn't break me if you tried, punk!'. Needless to say, the log's imaginary words were always proved false.

Naruto shook his coat off, feeling sweaty, before picking up two small leaves. Quickly making the hand sign to form a hundred clones, he applied a constant stream of chakra to his palms, forcing the leaves to them. Facing his clones, he grinned, receiving a similar one from the sea of orange.

Using only his legs, he leapt into the fray, spinning and lashing out with his feet, defeating clone after clone. After finishing the last one with a particularly brutal knee to the nose, he lifted his palms, panting as he grinned at the leaves that had not shifted a centimeter. His control was certainly getting better, even if he still couldn't summon any regular clones.

He turned around to grab his coat before going to eat, his eyes quickly saddening. He remembered when he used to eat all the time with his friends, especially after a hard day of training…

Even after a year, Hinata and Sasuke were as distant as ever, and strangely so. Hinata had started talking to him a little more like her old self, and more often, but still never trained with him. Occasionally he talked her into getting lunch with him, but more often than not she would leave in the middle of their meal, claiming that she was late to her father's training. Naruto couldn't hide his disappointment during these times, and could swear that he had seen her looking just as depressed…

He couldn't dwell on it. Even as he tried to push his negative thoughts about how Hinata had distanced herself from him, thoughts about Sasuke pushed to the forefront of his mind, tormenting him with images of his friend. Sasuke had steadily grown more and more distant, not just from Naruto and Hinata, but from everyone. While he didn't hate either the blonde or bluenette outright, he still barely gave them responses. He had withdrawn so heavily into himself that Iruka didn't have the heart to try and pull him back out, something Naruto didn't agree with. Nothing Naruto tried got a rise out of the boy, no amount of goading or bragging could get him out of his shell. Naruto even tried pleading, begging for his surrogate brother to remember how they used to be. At his words Sasuke's eyes had narrowed, and he had angrily told Naruto that the term 'brother' meant nothing to him. Naruto had faltered at his words, and given him a look so full of pain that the ebony haired Uchiha had to stalk away, muttering guiltily under his breath. Naruto hadn't tried to pull Sasuke from his angst too often since then, but every now and then he caught Sasuke glancing at him guiltily from the corner of his eye. It was the knowledge that Sasuke still cared, at least somewhat, that reassured Naruto his friend was somewhere in there.

Naruto plopped down in his usual seat at Ichiraku, waving to grab the server's attention.

"Hey hey, old man, give me four bowls of miso pork please!"

"Of course Naruto!" Teuchi said brightly, as he started to grab ingredients, "But what is on your mind, dear boy? You only go all out when you have something bothering you!"

Naruto smiled. It never ceased to amaze him just how well the ramen chef could sense his true feelings. He considered the old man to be one of his closest people, even if the conversations they had didn't go too deep into their personal lives.

"Just missing my friends, that's all!" Naruto said, smiling bashfully. "It's alright though, I'm just being selfish is all. I'm sure they have good reasons to be busy all the time, after all…"

Teuchi shook his head as he stirred the noodles. "Who are you trying to convince, Naruto-kun? Me? Or yourself?"

Naruto blinked, surprisingly thinking about what the old man said. After a minute of silence, Teuchi glanced back to see Naruto smiling serenely.

"I think…that they have their reasons. And that it'll go back to normal one day."

Teuchi smiled. "Then it will, Naruto. Just keep believing."

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

Hinata listened as Naruto revealed his feelings to Teuchi, and she felt the crack that had formed in her heart spread just a little further. It had killed her to push Naruto away like she did, and despite her conviction distance herself so as to better focus on her training, she still felt herself swayed to his side every day, even if he didn't know it. The training with her father took place in both the mornings before their Academy classes, immediately after the classes, and in the evening. More time and the after-class session was added due to her persistence, and even the head of the Hyuuga clan was beginning to wear from the constant clashing with his daughter. Hinata, however, pushed herself to the brink every single session, barely able to stand at the conclusion of their sparring. Even after their brutal training, she had still found the strength to follow Naruto nearly every day, treating to her injuries as she watched him from afar. She watched as he struggled with her and Sasuke's new mentality, and his return to partial loneliness. She hated herself for that. She truly did. And should Naruto come to hate her, she could accept that too, as much as it would kill her inside. But she needed to get stronger. And the feelings that she couldn't repress when around him were distracting, and she was afraid that she wouldn't be able to train as effectively near him. This was the reason she had pushed her father to train her more, and why she even continued in the after-hours. This was the reason she found herself crying silent tears on some nights, usually the ones where she had watched her crush hold back his own on the same day. Even if he turned against her…

She would protect him, no matter what.

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

 **ANOTHER 1.5 YEARS PASS…**

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

Naruto raised his hands into his familiar modified tiger seal, dodging a deft left hook as ten clones sprang into existence around him. With his plan already in their mind, they scattered upon reaching the ground, trying to flank their common enemy. Naruto cursed as three were taken out by well-placed kunai, thrown so fast he had been unable to see the movement. Two of his clones came sprinting behind him in line, and he turned, grasping each of them in turn and throwing them at their foe. He followed up closely, using the smoke as they were destroyed as a distraction. He went low, crouching to plant a solid kick into the man's jaw when…

"HIDDEN TAIJUTSU: ONE THOUSAND YEARS OF DEATH!"

Naruto's eyes widened as unimaginable pain shot through his body, stemming from his ass. He suddenly felt himself propelled into the air, and the rest of his clones dissipated as he slammed into the lake. He lamely floated to the shore, before crawling out of the frigid water, pointing a shaking finger at his opponent.

"That's…a dirty….trick…Kakashi-sensei…"

Said ninja shrugged, chuckling at the soaked boy through his mask.

"It's not a trick, it's a technique." He said mockingly, "And I told you not to call me sensei, none of these twerps will ever pass my test, despite how much the third wants to push a team onto me."

Naruto didn't answer, instead choosing to take his shirt and jacket off, wringing the water out of them. Kakashi could practically feel the heat spike from an area in the trees towards the middle of the training ground, but he didn't mention it, not wanting to give the poor girl away. He had felt her presence ever since Naruto had come up to him one day, begging him to train or spar with him, and Kakashi was somehow convinced by his look. Of course, the look begging of sympathy only got him one lesson. What kept him helping the blonde repeatedly was the way he looked during their spars; the single minded determination that kept the kid coming back no matter how many times he was knocked down. It reminded him of his late sensei, and with the hope of repenting for just a few of his sins, he had decided to take the boy under his wing. At least, for now.

He was drawn from his thoughts as a small hand tugged at his pants, and he looked down to see a shirtless Naruto pointing wordlessly towards his waterlogged clothing. Kakashi looked at him in disbelief.

"Are you serious Naruto?" he said, a sweat drop making its way down his temple. "You want me to dry your clothing with ninjutsu? That's the biggest waste of chakra I could ever-"

"But you were the one who launched me into the lake to begin with!" Naruto countered, huffing at the older man. "Besides, I don't have many good pairs of clothing..." he muttered, kicking dejectedly at the ground.

Kakashi quickly wiped the look of annoyance he had adopted from his face. These damned villagers... why could they not see that Naruto wasn't the beast? That his sensei was a genius, and gave his life to ensure that the seal was tight as could be? Maybe he was biased because of his relationship with the Yondaime, but still...

Kakashi offered Naruto a one eyed, grin, before rapidly flipping through some hand signs.

"Earth Release - Stone Wall! Fire Release - Dragon Flame!"

Naruto watched in awe as Kakashi summoned a small slab of stone, roughly two feet across and two feet high, before emitting a small stream of fire at the stone, slowly heating it up. When he cut off his ember, the stone was projecting a warm aura, inviting Naruto into its vicinity, promising him a peaceful nap.

"Set your clothes on that, and they should dry in no time." Kakashi said, offering him another smile. "Anyway, I'm due at the Hokage's office...ten minutes ago, so I'll see you later Naruto."

Naruto chuckled; he believed Kakashi's tendency to be late to everything hilarious. "Ok, see you later Kakashi...er...niisan?"

Kakashi blinked once, a blank look on his face, before smiling again. "That sounds nice to me."

He leapt off, leaving Naruto to lay next to the rock, allowing the heat from the stone to lull him into a lazy sense of thought. Kakashi seemed to enjoy being referred to as his elder brother, something that Naruto felt he could enjoy calling him. His thoughts turned a bit darker as he scowled, remembering the reason that -niisan most likely hadn't occurred to him initially. His so called 'brother' had all but abandoned him, it seemed. While it was obvious he preferred Naruto's company over all else, except perhaps HInata's, he still treated the blonde with an uncaring sort of aloofness. Despite it being almost 3 years since the butchering of Sasuke's family, he still put forth no signs of withdrawing from his shell. It frustrated Naruto to no end, and he roared this at Sasuke during one of their spars at the school, after he refused to acknowledge Naruto's declaration of brotherhood at the beginning of their match. Naruto had held nothing back, and as a result had nearly shattered his forearms with a powerful knee, causing Iruka to go berserk at his blatant disregard for safety. While Naruto had argued back with his instructor, Sasuke had taken his leave silently, not returning to classes for the rest of the day. They hadn't spoken much since then, but Naruto had the feeling that Sasuke was either mad at him, or mad at himself. He would bet it was the former; especially since the loss of his family, Sasuke didn't like feeling weak.

Hinata was a better case, but that wasn't saying much. While he got her to train with him roughly once a week, she still excused herself at the most inconvenient of times, babbling out that she needed to train with her father more than ever, due to learning some of the more advanced Hyuuga techniques. While Naruto didn't want to believe that Hinata would lie to him, especially after he had told her so passionately about his hatred of liars, he felt like she was deceiving him in some way. It tortured him to no end, but he couldn't find any evidence, so he held out hope that he was simply being paranoid about things. The only consolation was that she seemed to be blushing as often as her old self around him, even several shades darker than what he had remembered. He loved poking, prodding, and teasing her more than ever due to this, and delighted in being the recipient of a half-hearted shove or slap, while she whined his name at him. He didn't know why, but seeing her puff her cheeks while stuttering her displeasure at his antics made him feel giddy, and only encouraged him. He would never push her TOO far, however, as he did not want to invoke her wrath. He had seen that happen once, and it wasn't a pretty sight...

 _FLASHBACK_

 _Naruto and Hinata casually strolled down the street, enjoying each other's company. They had just finished a particularly grueling training session, and Naruto was in the mood for ramen. He clapped his hands together, rubbing them together with a far-off look in his eye as he thought about the sheer amount of his favorite food he was about to consume, while Hinata giggled shyly at his antics. Hinata originally wasn't going to hang around Naruto, so as to focus solely on training, but almost as soon as she had begun heavily stalking him again, she was back to spending time with him. This made her feel guilty, as any time she selfishly spent with him was time that could have been used to strengthen herself, and help defend him, but she was only human after all._

 _Hinata was brought from her reverie when she noticed his pant leg dragging a bit, barely hanging on by a few threads. Her eyebrows knit together as she poked his shoulder._

 _"N-Naruto-kun, your p-pants…" she said, gesturing to the offending piece of clothing. He glanced down and groaned._

 _"Aww man…I really liked this pair…" he sighed, throwing a smile towards the bluenette at his side. "But it's fine! I still have…" he thought for a moment, failing to keep his face from falling sadly. "…a pair left…."_

 _Hinata immediately grabbed his hand and shot off towards a store she knew had the orange pants her Naruto wore; she had scouted every store in the village for possible birthday gifts for him, when he cared to share the date with her._

 _As they approached the entrance to the store Hinata had picked out, Naruto cringed, trying to pull against her hold. "H-hey, Hinata-chan, let's just go eat! I can get pants later I swear I will!"_

 _Hinata stopped pulling, moving her head towards Naruto's as she felt her cheeks grow hot._

 _"Don't worry, Naruto-kun." She whispered, trying to fight back her embarrassment. "Th-they wouldn't d-d-dare mess w-with you while I-I'm with y-you."_

 _Naruto gave her a look of amazement, astonished that she knew the exact reason he was hesitating, before nodding, giving her an especially warm smile. It made Hinata's stomach do backflips and she quickly turned around, feeling lightheaded._

 _Despite her confidence in keeping Naruto out of trouble, they still ended up slipping in quietly, trying to stay unnoticed. After circling around to the back of the store, they found the small section that read "SALE!", and immediately spotted the bright orange pants at the bottom of the rack. It wasn't that no one else enjoyed that particular color, per se, but Naruto was known for wearing the color exclusively, and no one wanted to be affiliated with him, so the villagers tended to steer away from it._

 _Naruto found a number of pairs in his size, and was excitedly showing them to Hinata when the owner of the store caught the site of Hinata through the corner of his eye, and hurried up excitedly to greet them._

 _"Hyuuga-sama! I'm incredibly honored to have you in my humble store! What can I help you with to…day…?" He trailed off, catching sight of Naruto, who upon seeing the man went stiff as a board._

 _The man grit his teeth, a hateful look sprouting on his face. "What the fuck are you doing in here,_ demon? _" he spat, moving to grab the boy by his shirt. "You'd better clear the fuck out of my store bef-"_

 _He gasped in pain as Hinata gripped his wrist in a vice-like grip. He looked to her in surprise and nearly wet himself at the intensity of the glare she was fixing him with._

 _"What…are you doing?" she said, tilting her head dangerously. The man, foolish as he was, had assumed she didn't enjoy that he was engaging in such violence in front of her, and hastily waved his hand in front of his face, unaware of his impending doom._

 _"Oh my my, I'm quite sorry Hyuuga-sama! If you would please step towards the front counter, I'll make sure that this pathetic excuse for a boy doesn't bother you again, so if you would pl-"_

 _The rest of his words were lost as he vomited blood, grasping wildly towards his stomach where Hinata had her palm planted. She watched coldly as he fell to his knees, looking at her with wild, frightened eyes._

 _"Hy….Hyuuga…sama?"_

 _"If I ever hear of you treating Naruto-kun like this again…" she said in a low voice, gripping his hair and yanking his head to the side. He saw the glint of steel in her hands and he whimpered, his bladder finally losing control. He nodded furiously, moaning in pain; his insides felt like molten lead._

 _Her demeanor changed instantly, adopting a shy look as she approached the blonde who had taken refuge inside the rack of clothing behind them. She tugged his sleeve gently, stuttering out affirmations that the man wouldn't hurt him, and that he insisted they take the clothes for free as compensation for his actions. This had cheered up Naruto quite a bit, due to his allowance mainly being spent on ramen, and he had accompanied Hinata out of the store. Even if he had hidden in the coat rack, however, he had watched the entire exchange, and had silently vowed to never make Hinata mad at him, under any circumstances._

 _END FLASHBACK_

Naruto shook his head rapidly, expelling the thoughts from his mind. They were his friends, and at some point, they would all reunite. That was all that mattered.

He stood up, throwing on his discarded clothing. The warm fabric clung to him closely, injecting heat into every pore of his body. Naruto grinned stupidly, loving the feeling, before making his way towards the Aburame complex. After seeing Kakashi, Naruto had planned on visiting his friend Shino, whom he had been hanging out with more and more. Many people found Shino stoic and unfeeling, but Naruto had figured out what the problem was. They were looking ONLY at Shino. But there was more to Shino than the person. Depending on the pitch and frequency of the buzzing that often hummed from Shino, Naruto was able to pick up on his various emotions. His eyebrows were another large indicator, often being the deciding point between two similar pitches of buzzing. It had taken some time to get down right, but he could tell that Shino was happy someone cared for him enough to take the time to learn the telltale signs of his moods.

Naruto started along a grassy hill, slipping across the training ground with a lazy stroll. It was a shortcut, but one bathed with sunlight and warmth, different from the dark and twisted alleys that plagued the poorer areas of Konoha. Naruto glanced up, noting the clouds making their way across the sky with a gait as lazy as his, and he smirked. This would be a perfect day for…

"Man, I sure do envy clouds…"

Naruto laughed, jogging the last few steps up the hill to lay his eyes on Shikamaru and Chouji, who were laying side by side in the grass. Chouji had a bag of chips open at his side, and every so often his hand would slowly make the trek across the grass to place one lazily in his mouth. Shikamaru had a blade of grass in his mouth, and he twisted it from side to side as he watched the white puffs in the sky journey through the endless sea of blue.

"Hey Shikamaru, hey Chouji! What are you guys up to?" Naruto said, sitting between them. Chouji looked over, greeting Naruto with a smile and offering him a chip, while Shikamaru closed his eyes, muttering about avoiding his mother. Naruto smiled and laughed, popping the small morsel into his mouth. He had met the two boys during one of his more elaborate pranks, ducking into a game room during one of the small breaks they had at the academy. Teachers had thundered down the hall where they thought the boy had gone, slipping and sliding as the oil-slicked floor made balancing nearly impossible. He had laughed silently at them before noticing the two boys in the room, across from each other at a small wooden board. Naruto had made his way to them, cautiously introducing himself, and receiving a friendly welcome in response.

'Shogi.' Shikamaru had said, his eyes more aware than usual as they darted across the board. 'Have you heard of chess? It's kind of like that, but with more pieces, and different rules.'

Naruto had watched them play, and from that moment on had started to slowly hang out with them more and more. They were both very nice, and Naruto found that he liked them immensely. Naruto had wanted to introduce them to Hinata and Sasuke, but neither of his friends seemed interested in Naruto's recently acquired acquaintances. Hinata had looked unsurprised and politely declined, stating that she needed to train, and Sasuke had brushed him off with an annoyed look.

Nevertheless, Naruto enjoyed the company of the other two boys, and he laid himself in the grass next to them, breathing in deeply.

Shikamaru heard a 'poof', glancing over to see a second Naruto continuing the way the original had been going. He turned an eyebrow up as he turned to Naruto, but the boy just shook his head, closing his eyes as the sun bore down on him. The young Nara shrugged, deeming thinking about the situation too troublesome, and went back to watching the clouds roll through the air.

Sometime later, Shino had appeared before them all, and Naruto could tell that he was a tad nervous.

"Naruto's clone informed me that there was some sort of…gathering to view the clouds. Is it acceptable for me to join you?"

Chouji looked slightly unnerved, having never talked to the Aburame before, but if Shikamaru was nervous at all, he didn't show it. He sighed, giving the stoic boy a bored look.

"Sure, can't exactly stop you from looking at the sky, can I?"

Shino nodded, before sitting down next to Naruto. He looked a bit tense, but within minutes he was sprawled out onto the grass, his hive basking in the warmth of the sun.

Naruto glanced over, watching all three of his friends relaxing lazily in the heat of the day.

'I did it, Iruka-sensei…' he thought, turning his head straight as a smile graced his lips. 'I've found...a lot of friends.'

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

 **ONE YEAR LATER**

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

Naruto grunted as Chouji's fist connected with his jaw, throwing him backwards. A few clones previously summoned caught him, and he righted himself.

"That was a good punch!" he said, smirking. "But I'm not nearly close to being finished."

Chouji grinned widely at him, before forming a single hand seal. He suddenly grew to a large size, his arms and legs withdrawing into his body. Each of Naruto's clones threw their partners out of the way, sacrificing themselves to save the original and as many others as they could as Chouji rolled through them, crushing them beneath his massive form.

Naruto's remaining clones quickly threw kunai with ninja wire attached to them towards trees opposite Chouji, allowing multiple wires to pin the sphere-shaped boy to the tree.

"NOW, SHINO!" Naruto shouted. Seemingly out of nowhere, dozens of bugs swarmed out of the trees, enclosing Chouji as they sucked the chakra out of him.

"Alright, I give up!" he shouted, deflating back to his normal size. The wire slackened considerably, and Chouji made a sour face. "Man, wish I'd thought of that sooner. I didn't realize it would free me…"

Shino suddenly walked out of the trees, his hands in his pockets. Naruto squinted at him; something was wrong. He always had his hands in his jacket pockets, not his pants. He looked more closely and saw that Shino's shadow appeared…elongated.

"I give up as well." Shino said, and Naruto could tell he was frustrated. Naruto saw why as Shikamaru strolled out of the trees behind him; Shino's actions matched his perfectly, which could only mean one thing.

"I must admit, I never planned for you using my own companion's shadows against me." Shino said, stretching his muscles after Shikamaru released his technique. Shikamaru scratched his head with one hand, looking bored.

"Yeah, well, it was a real pain working with so many tiny shadows…" he muttered, before looking towards Naruto, an unusual amount of determination in his eyes. "Alright blondie, it's just you and me now."

Naruto smirked, lowering himself as more clones appeared at his side. "There's no way we're gonna lose, right guys?!"

His clones roared their approval, a fire in each of their eyes as they charged forward. Shikamaru immediately leaped backwards, swallowed up by the shadows of the trees. The clones faltered, and Naruto stopped just short of the tree line.

"Do you really think it's a good idea to go in there after him, boss?" one of the Naruto's muttered, attempting to squint through the darkness provided by the foliage. "He's probably got some whole big thing set up in there to take us out."

Naruto nodded, grinning. "Yeah, but if he's not gonna come out, we'll just have to go in, won't we?"

The clone grumbled something about not having to disappear in smoke, but he pushed forward with all his fellow clones into the trees nonetheless. They leapt from branch to branch slowly, but were still caught off guard when one of them tripped a wire that had been laid carefully in the shadows of some leaves.

Shuriken launched out from either side of the area, and while Naruto himself was thrown to safety, the four clones caught in the hail of metal were not as lucky. It seemed like that particular event was the trigger, as clones suddenly started popping out of existence, seemingly at random. Naruto grit his teeth as he leapt straight up, settling on one of the highest branches he could find. He summoned a few more clones without looking, and squinted into the trees.

"He was probably setting up all these traps while giving Shino a little breathing room, which is why we were able to take out Chouji so easily…" he muttered, readying several shuriken in his hands. "I'm thinking he's somewhere in front of us, making sure we can't leave the zone of his traps. What do you guys think?"

His clones nodded, looking determined as they took their own weapons into their hands. One of them stuck his pinky in his ear, however, looking bored.

"Do you really think throwing a bunch of shuriken around is gonna lure him out?" the clone said, flicking the bit of earwax away.

Naruto scowled. He hated when his clones got attitude, despite the fact that it was _his_ attitude they had inherited. "Maybe not, but it's better than doing nothing."

He turned back around and made ready to leap into the forest, when the feel of cold steel pressed against his neck. He heard the poof of multiple clones popping at once, and he whistled low, chuckling a bit.

Shikamaru retracted his kunai, moving to place it into his pouch. "Looks like I win."

Naruto nodded, scratching his head. "That was super smooth. How did you do that? I didn't notice you at all nearby…"

Shikamaru snorted, flying through a few hand seals. In a poof of smoke, Naruto was staring at a copy of himself, and he smacked his forehead.

"You just snuck in with my clones when I wasn't looking….man, I've gotta be careful about that."

Shikamaru nodded, dispelling the henge. "You've gotten so used to the technique that you hardly concentrate on the number of clones you summon, or even care to look at them. All I had to do was push you into a corner and force you to watch your surroundings, meaning that you would automatically summon clones at your back. When that happened I just snuck in, and you didn't bother to check."

They had walked back into the clearing at this point, Chouji and Shino watching them, curious to the outcome of the remainder of their match.

"He won!" Naruto yelled, pouting as he jogged the rest of the way to them. "He impersonated one of my clones to get behind my guard."

Shino nodded thoughtfully. "That sounds most ingenious. Congratulations on beating Naruto-san, Shikamaru-san."

Shikamaru scratched his head, plopping down on the grass. "Eh, it was more trouble than it was worth."

Naruto shrugged his coat off, laying back on the grass with an exaggerated sigh of relief. "Oh man, I'm so ready to be done with the Academy! What about you guys?"

The other boys nodded their agreement, as eager as any to be done with the classes that never ceased to drag.

"By the way, where's Kiba?" Chouji asked, popping some chips into his mouth. The Inuzuka had joined their little group a few months previous, and like Naruto, rarely missed a chance to show off his strength, despite it paling in comparison to the others in their band of misfits.

"I think he said something about taking care of the dogs." Naruto said, stretching on the grass. His stomach rumbled, and he pushed himself to his feet, grinning cheekily. "Hey, let's go get some ramen!"

Shikamaru grimaced. He had eaten ramen more often than he would have liked in the past month, due to the increased amount of time he was spending with Naruto. He didn't hate the time, not at all, but his diet was starting to wear on him.

Unfortunately, his protests went unheard, and the boys cleared out, heading towards the ramen stand. Naruto's hands suddenly twitched to his torso, and he scratched his head in embarrassment. "Hey, I forgot my jacket back there, I'll catch up to you guys!"

The other three voiced their agreement, and Naruto quickly dashed back to the clearing, impatient to get to his meal. As he came upon their spot in the grass, however, his beloved orange jacket was nowhere to be found. He looked high and low around the clearing (even in some of the lower branches of trees), but it had mysteriously vanished. Naruto sighed, turning around and heading moodily towards his friends, grieving the loss of one of his jackets. The only consolation to the situation was that he could ask Hinata to go clothes shopping with him again, but he was unsure if she'd accept. He had accepted some time ago that she might never spend as much time with him as she did when they first met, but lately she had been acting strange, even for her.

Naruto shook his head, dashing with increased speed towards the ramen stand. If anything would pick up his spirits, it would be the godsend that was his favorite food!"

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

Hinata watched silently as Naruto leapt from the clearing, before letting out the breath she was holding. It had been a gamble, but one that paid off. She looked with adoration at the orange article of clothing she held in her hands, rubbing it against her cheek. She caught a little whiff of it, it smelled so much like him…

She brought the heart of the jacket to her nose, inhaling deeply. Her mind was flooded with Naruto's scent and she swayed drunkenly on the spot, pink dusting her cheeks. God she missed him. She missed spending time with him. It felt like years since she had spent a whole day with him, and the sad part was that it had. Their time at the Academy was coming to an end, however, which meant that they would be placed on genin teams. She would make sure they would get to be on the same team. That would secure them ages of time together, certainly enough to make up for all the time lost thus far.

She laid back, bringing the jacket to her face again, breathing in the scent of ramen, sweat, and nature. It was her favorite combination of all time.

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

 **ONE YEAR LATER**

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

Naruto stood facing the doors to the Academy. This was his last day, the day of his test. After this, he would either become a Shinobi, or be forced to leave all his friends behind. Despite having become strong for his age, he still feared losing the friends he had worked so hard to acquire. He pushed his negative thoughts aside. He would not fail.

Well there we go. For any wondering, the time skip took them from 7 and a halfish, to 8 and a half, to 10, to 11, and now finally to 12. Remember to comment any questions you have, or if you want a timelier response, feel free to PM me. Hope you all enjoyed, it was a pleasure getting this chapter out there. We'll be moving forward more proactively with the story now. See you guys next time

Note: I'm exhausted, so I'm not doing a super thorough look-through of this chapter. If you guys notice some grammar or spelling error, please PM me so that I can fix it. Sorry for the laziness, but working 12-16 hour days can really exhaust you.

Note 2: Be patient for the NaruHina my friends. Trust me, it'll come.

Note 3: Did a little edit to remember where I was, fixed some errors. Thanks to all of you who are being patient with my schedule.


	8. Learning the Truth

Hey guys, sorry this is out late, but I visited my wife after not seeing her for 2 months, so that took priority. After this update, there won't be one for a few weeks, unless I get lucky. Not gonna do reviews because I want to get this out quickly, if anyone has any questions they want answered (or that went unanswered) please PM me and I will answer them. Thanks.

* * *

 _Naruto stood facing the doors to the Academy. This was his last day, the day of his test. After this, he would either become a Shinobi, or be forced to leave all his friends behind. Despite having become strong for his age, he still feared losing the friends he had worked so hard to acquire. He pushed his negative thoughts aside. He would not fail._

* * *

Naruto sat in his chair, quaking with excitement. This was it. This was the moment he had waited for since he decided he would take care of himself. In just a few short hours, he would be an official ninja of Konoha. His leg shook and rattled the desk, eliciting an annoyed look from the group below. Surprisingly enough, no one saw Naruto's desk mates spare him a second glance, seemingly ignoring him; this was the furthest thing from the truth.

Hinata, while impassive and distant on the outside, had adopted a sort of 'inner Hinata' to express her actual feelings about Naruto and the situation. Although she doubted she could maintain her stoic façade in the face of 'alone time with Naruto-kun', whilst around others she felt that if she could keep herself calm and relatively unfeeling, she could make more rational decisions, and therefore protect Naruto better. That being said, inner Hinata at this moment had lavender pom-poms, and was cheering on the blonde with all of her might. The bluenette knew how important this moment was to Naruto, and subtly brushed her arm against his, offering him her support and admiration. Unfortunately, with how dense Naruto was, he didn't get the gesture, but the thought was there nonetheless.

Sasuke stared impassively out the window, slightly annoyed with the blonde next to him. This step was insignificant with the bigger picture in mind, and he knew that they were already way past the skill level of fresh genin. Why then, did Naruto value this pathetic ceremony so much? The test was a joke, and the only thing worth mentioning was the jonin sensei they would be assigned. Sasuke thought on the potential veteran he could train under, and relished the thought of being able to obtain greater power than before. He thought back to the time he trained with his only two friends at his side, and, like many times in recent months, wondered if he made the right decision to train on his own.

He was brought from his thoughts as Iruka entered the classroom, causing Naruto to nearly jump out of his seat. The raven haired Uchiha sighed, shooting an annoyed glance at the blonde. He was still impulsive and disgustingly happy all the time. He had enjoyed it before; it had even been infectious. But now…

'Actively pursuing friendship and mirth will only set me back in my goal.' Sasuke said to himself for what seemed like the millionth time. The truth was, Sasuke missed being around his friends. He missed training with Naruto, missed laughing at Hinata when she puffed her cheeks at a joke Naruto would make at her expense. He missed being with them. But he couldn't ignore his clan's revenge. It had to take priority over everything else, he had to make sure they didn't die in vain. No matter how miserable it made him, or who it pushed away. Naruto and Hinata had each other, so his absence for however long it took was just something they'd have to deal with together.

"Now class, before we get started with the exams, I just want to tell you how proud I am that you've all made it this far." Iruka said, beaming around the room. Contrary to the normal routine, the faces around the class were alert and attentive, a good amount actually seeming excited. They, like Naruto, were eager to begin their shinobi careers, and prove themselves to the world. "It's taken a lot of hard work and dedication to get to where you are, and I don't want any of you to short-change yourself on that. You deserve to pass this exam and begin your lives-"

"HEY IRUKA-SENSEI CAN WE JUST GET IT ON ALREADY I'M DYING OVER HERE!" Naruto yelled as he finally reached his breaking point, standing up and slamming him palms on the desk.

A few students shot annoyed glances at the hyperactive blonde, but a good amount nodded their heads, tired of the countless speeches their teacher liked to give for some reason. Iruka, noticing this, took a deep breath to calm his ire, smiling bashfully at the class.

"Ahh, you may be right Naruto. The time for words is past, today is either a pass or fail. Here's how the exam will go. A basic taijutsu and weapons exercise in the training area, a written test (Naruto groaned audibly at this), and then a test of the academy's basic jutsu. After the final portion of tests, you will be graded, and either passed or failed. Those who pass will receive a jonin sensei that you will meet tomorrow morning to begin your training. Does everyone understand?"

The class nodded, everyone seeming excited to start the tests. Iruka led everyone out to the training yard where he split the class into two groups.

"For the exams today, Mizuki-sensei is going to be helping me, so treat him with the same respect you would give me, ok?"

Everyone gave an affirmative, and Naruto quickly found himself facing the silver-haired man.

"Now Naruto-kun," Mizuki said with a smirk, "I want you to give me your all, got it?"

Naruto nodded, falling into his familiar stance. "I won't let you down, Mizuki-sensei!"

Hinata watched the exchange silently, but her inner-self was cheering on Naruto with as much gusto as she could manage. Her mental encouragements were silenced, however, when she noticed Mizuki making a weird hand-sign as he and Naruto bowed to each other to signal the start of the spar. Naruto immediately leapt into action, but his punch was wide, and Mizuki easily countered with a spinning back kick to his side.

"Sloppy, Naruto-kun. You'll have to do better than that if you want to pass." Mizuki said with barely restrained glee. Hinata's eyes narrowed and she silently activated her Byakugan, her fears becoming a reality. Naruto's chakra system was on the fritz due to the muttered genjutsu cast by their instructor, causing Naruto's depth perception and sense of balance to become erratic. Where before she had watched him fight with precision and power, all of his attacks now were sloppy and uncoordinated, giving Mizuki easy openings that he exploited fully.

Hinata ground her teeth. He was sabotaging her Naruto-kun's exam! She wanted to release the genjutsu on him, but what if he was disqualified due to outside interference? She was only an academy student after all, they would listen to Mizuki's testimony more than her's by a longshot. She watched in frustration as Naruto was expelled from the ring, Mizuki dispelling the genjutsu as he threw the blonde so as to not arouse suspicion outside the fighting area.

"Well Naruto-kun, I can tell that you've been working hard, so you didn't fail by that much. You can definitely make up for it in the other tests." Mizuki said with false regret in his voice. She watched Naruto nod sadly, his previous enthusiasm evaporated into nothingness. Hinata fixed in on the sad look on Naruto's face, and decided then and there that somehow, someway, Mizuki would pay.

"Next: Hyuuga Hinata!"

Did the gods also demand retribution? It seemed so. With an inward sadistic smile, she stepped into the ring, adopting her personalized jyuuken stance. Mizuki raised an eyebrow.

"That doesn't seem like the tradition gentle fist." He said. "I trained Neji for a good while, so I know what it's supposed to look like.

Hinata didn't even blink. "Through rigorous training, my father and myself have come to the conclusion that the tradition jyuuken does not fit my body type or natural fighting style, so we have tweaked it to make it more effective for me. Do not despair, for it is just as effective, if not more than our base style."

Mizuki nodded, getting into his stance. "Understood. Begin-"

As soon as the words left his mouth he had leapt to the side on pure instinct, dodging two chakra pulses from her hands that shimmered in the air. 'F-fast…' he thought, and shivered when he noticed her eyes. All Hyuuga's looked more intimidating with their Byakugan activated, but couple this with the complete loathing that filled Hinata's eyes and the picture was downright terrifying.

Mizuki was put on the defensive as Hinata began an intricate dance of palm strikes and chakra-infused finger pokes, trying to break down Mizuki's defenses. He wasn't a chunin for nothing, however, and was managing to dodge everything fairly effectively. He had just flipped backwards from a potential kidney shot and was midair when he heard his voice, cold and full of loathing.

"Eight Triagrams – Air Palm!"

The blast of compressed chakra threw him off balance, and he didn't have time to dodge the next set of finger prods that sealed off tenketsu in his legs. He fell to his knees, panting, as Hinata stood before him, glaring at him. It looked like she was contemplating something, with the calculating look she gave him. She turned on her heel suddenly and walked away, getting Iruka's attention to treat their now incapacitated sensei.

'Damn…she's gonna be scary one day….' Mizuki thought.

Meanwhile, Naruto had picked up Hinata and was swinging her in circles, cheering for the girl he had wrapped in a tight hug. Hinata's face was a solid brick red as the object of her affections held her tight against his body with no regard for the close proximity of their bodies. She felt she was in heaven as he showered her in praise, bragging about how his best friend Hinata-chan was the absolute best. For the first time in a long time, she fainted. Naruto had been about to start freaking out when Sasuke wandered over, having just finished his match with Iruka.

"She's fine, moron." He said aloofly, sitting by the prone girl's side. "Go get ready for the weapons training, I want to talk to her."

Naruto's face fell when he noticed how much more freely Sasuke seemed to talk around Hinata, but didn't say anything. He walked off, a droop to his shoulders, causing Sasuke to feel guilty yet again.

A few minutes later, Hinata's eyes fluttered open, adopting a look of disappointment when she realized she was no longer being smothered by Naruto.

"Hinata." Sasuke said, his gaze settling on the clouds rolling past. "….how did you get so strong? I've heard that the air palm is an A-class technique that is given to Hyuuga chuunin who are aspiring to be jonin as a sort of rite of passage. How do you know it?"

Hinata sat up, brushing some dirt from her jacket. "All my training with my father is paying off. While my air palm isn't powerful by any means, it's enough to disrupt. He taught it to me as a reward for learning another technique of ours nearly as fast as he did."

Sasuke nodded, his eyes still transfixed on the clouds. "I wonder…if my father were still alive…if I could be that strong…"

Hinata's gaze grew softer as she looked at her longtime friend. Although he had shut himself off from the world, Hinata could still see how much he cared for both her and Naruto.

"You know, my father's training isn't the only thing helping me get strong." She said with a hint of mysteriousness. Sasuke's eyes tore away from the sky to look at her, curiosity burning in them.

"What else?" he said, hungry for the information. He watched her entire face transform as her eyes softened, her lips parted gently in an affectionate smile, and her body radiated peace.

"Naruto-kun." She said, and the very weight of her simple words hit Sasuke like a boulder. "I would do anything for him, anything to protect him." She continued, her eyes burning with a fire Sasuke wasn't familiar with. What had happened in the past few years to change her in this way. "That's why I'm able to get back up when I want to stay down. That's why I force myself to keep fighting even when my body wants to fail. He makes me strong." She finished, holding her hand gently over her heart.

Sasuke blinked away the tears that had unconsciously formed in his eyes. "Why?" he asked, unsure as to why Hinata would go that far. He already knew the answer though.

"You know why…" Hinata said, her eyes darkening. "You've known ever since that night…"

Sasuke nodded, turning his gaze back to the sky. Hinata was the only person he could ever talk to about these things, because she had gone through that night with him, had experienced all that death and pain with him. She may not have cared for his family as much as he did, for obvious reasons, but that didn't mean she didn't empathize, or that she didn't see the horrors contained in the Uchiha complex.

"…I don't want to let anyone in anymore." Sasuke said, finally admitting the reason to his withdrawal. Hinata didn't look surprised.

"I didn't either, at first." She said, surprising the boy. "I even tried to push my feelings for Naruto-kun aside, so that I could focus on getting stronger to protect him…" she glanced at Sasuke. "But you want to get stronger to kill your brother, so I can see how it could consume you…"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "I don't follow your line of thought."

It was Hinata's turn to gaze at the sky. "I tried to push Naruto-kun away, but seeing the very person I want to protect sadden because he sees me…because I wasn't spending any time with him…it hurt. More than anything." Her eyes grew somber. "I cried a lot at night, those first few years. All I wanted was to keep him safe, so I never had to see him die again. But seeing him miserable just at the sight of me….was almost as bad. So I started to spend time with him again, just enough to keep him happy, but…."

She smiled. "I quickly remembered how it was to be with him, at his side. All the reasons I wanted to protect him became fresh in my mind, and I realized that only by reminding myself every once in a while why I want to protect him, and be at his side…will I truly grow strong enough to shield him."

Sasuke laid back in the grass, digesting the information. He was about to speak when Hinata's soft voice reached his ears.

"That's why you can't progress Sasuke…you have no one to protect, only one to harm…if you search for power that way, you might get it, but you won't be yourself. You'll lose sight of who, and what's important."

Sasuke grunted, his eyebrows knitting together. Would he really grow strong if he decided to protect what was close to him? What was he even close to these days? Naruto and Hinata flashed through his mind and he frowned. Hinata didn't need protecting, she was plenty strong. Naruto…

He thought back to the hyperactive blonde. How he offered his friendship, how hard he trained, how he offered to help with little things just to spend more time with his friends. And he was an orphan, one who had never known the comfort of parents, uncles, aunts, or grandparents. In fact, he was certain he hadn't had any friends prior to Hinata. After all that, he still managed to put others before himself…

'Someone idealistic like that…deserves to be protected…' Sasuke thought sadly, as he watched Naruto throw his shuriken, missing his targets. He scoffed, before heading over to do his own weapons exam.

'I'm sorry I won't be there to help with that. Hinata can watch over you, but it's too late for me….Naruto….I'm in too deep…I'm sorry.'

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

Naruto sat with his head in-between his knees behind his familiar tree on the academy's grounds. This was where he was forced to watch other students get picked up by their parents, and where he would endure countless glares and mutters. This was also where he fled when things went horribly wrong, like today. He had failed. How had he failed? He trained so hard…but everything seemed to go wrong for him.

First he couldn't hit Mizuki-sensei. He just couldn't tell where he was, and it bothered him. He was better than that, so why had things gone so bad? He thought he could redeem himself in the weapons department, but every tool he threw, while starting off perfect, seemed to veer off the path of the posts he was supposed to be hitting. He didn't understand it, he could hit those posts with his eyes closed with all varieties of weapons; why couldn't he hit them with simple shuriken and kunai?

The written examination was full of questions that he couldn't answer. Even with Hinata's prodding of him to let him know when important lessons were being discussed, nothing he remembered came up. He had turned in his test with a heavy heart, knowing that he was finished. He hadn't even shown up for the final part, knowing that nothing would save him. He didn't want the embarrassment of being denied a headband in front of their entire class.

He sniffed, wiping at his eyes. Hinata and Sasuke would leave him behind now. Shino, Shikamaru, Chouji, Kiba…all of them would graduate. And he would be alone again…

He felt years sting at his eyes again and he drove his fist into the tree behind him, letting the tears fall into the dirt below him. Why? Why, just when things were starting to look up, did this have to happen?

"Naruto-kun…are you alright?"

Naruto jerked his head to the side, quickly wiping away the evidence of his despair. Mizuki was standing above him, looking at him with concern.

"Yeah…I'm fine…" Naruto lied, dropping his gaze back to the ground.

"No, you're not." The older man said, crouching down by Naruto. "You've actually managed to make a few friends with this class, have you not?"

Naruto nodded, sniffing.

"And you don't want them to leave you behind, right?" Mizuki pressed. 'Almost got him…'

Naruto nodded again.

"Hmm….well…this is only supposed to be for special circumstances…but…hmm…."

Naruto's eyes lit up. "Wh-what! What's only for special circumstances!"

Mizuki waved his hands in surrender. "Ok ok! Well, there's a special test you can take to pass the academy, but we usually only reserve it for students who had to miss the final exams for one reason or another. I think I may be able to swing it because you missed your final jutsu testing…"

Naruto leapt up, gripping Mizuki's arm. "R-R-REALLY?! I CAN STILL PASS?"

Mizuki nodded, laughing at the boy's gullibility. "You sure can Naruto-kun. All you have to do is sneak into the Hokage's office tonight, find the scroll that I've hidden inside, and bring it to the forest. I will meet you at approximately midnight. This is similar to missions you'll undertake as a ninja, so no revealing details or anything like that, ok?"

Naruto nodded, his face set in grim determination. "I won't let you down, Mizuki-sensei!"

Mizuki nodded, his smile slightly sadistic. "I know you won't, Naruto-kun."

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

Naruto leapt from tree to tree, laughing maniacally. The old man was so easy to defeat! All he had to do was transform into a bunch of naked girls and he went down instantly, it was really too easy. Naruto settled himself on the ground, peeking into the sky to see the position of the moon.

"Hmm…looks like I've still got some time…" he muttered, glancing at the scroll at his side. The kanji for "SCROLL OF SEALS" was emblazoned on the side. "Might as well see what's inside…" The first thing Naruto noticed was the shadow clone technique. "Boring, I already know that…" Naruto muttered, but continued reading the passages on his favorite jutsu.

"…..I can make them explode….? COOL!" the blonde exclaimed, before becoming engrossed in the scroll. He was so into it that he didn't notice the high pitch whiring coming from behind him.

'Stupid demon brat…' Mizuki thought as he twirled his fuma shuriken. 'I'll end this quickly so that I can start my journey to Grass…'

With a mighty heave, Mizuki whipped the over-sized shuriken at Naruto's back, causing a pair of pale eyes to widen in fear.

"NARUTO-KUN!" Hinata screamed, leaping from her spot in the trees and using two pairs of kunai to barely deflect the weapon. Just as she was about to breath a sigh in relief, however, she saw a second one heading straight towards the blonde, who looked paralyzed at the sight of both her and the deadly weapon spinning towards him. Without thinking, Hinata used all the chakra she could muster and dove straight at Naruto, tackling him to the ground while the weapon sliced into her back. She yelled in pain, blood beginning to drip from her mouth as she gazed into Naruto's horrified blue eyes.

"Hinata….chan…." he said slowly, seeing the weapon lodged in her body. "Hinata-chan….why….why did you do that?"

Hinata panted, trying to ignore the searing pain spreading through her body. "Be…cause…" she said, her vision wavering. "You're….precious…to me…Naru….to-kun…" she ground out, before her strength gave way and she collapsed on him.

"Hinata-chan….oi, Hinata-chan!" Naruto yelled, crawling out from beneath her and pulling the weapon from her back. He ripped his jacket off, using it to bind the wound, before laying her head down gently on the forest floor. She was still breathing, but he could see that she had lost a good amount of blood.

Mizuki jumped down from his spot and started to approach the pair. "So, I see the demon has found a harlot to accompany him, eh? What a pathetic waste of female flesh." He spat, giving Hinata a look of disgust. Naruto's eyes snapped to him, a look of fury on his face.

"Mizuki-sensei…you hurt Hinata-chan…?" he questioned slowly, his face growing more and more angry. "I thought you were helping me…what about the test…WHY DID YOU HURT HINATA-CHAN?!" he bellowed, his eyes flashing red. Mizuki grimaced; he'd wanted this to be easy, but that girl's interference might have just made things much more complicated, especially with the team the Hokage would inevitably send to recover the scroll. He had to goad the kid to attacking with thinking, so he could dispatch him quickly.

"Fucking idiot, did you not notice the test was rigged the entire time?" Mizuki said with a sneer. Naruto, how had stood up, took a step back. "You can't even realize when genjutsu is acting on you, or on something as trivial as a piece of paper, can you?"

Naruto blinked, his face horrified. "Our spar…and my test…but what about the weapons…?"

"I gave you that special set for test use, remember?" Mizuki bragged, laughing at the look of despair on Naruto's face. "They, as well as those posts you were using, had repulsion seals on them. It was almost impossible for you to be able to make any of them contact their targets. Man, for a demon, you sure are dumb. What, did assuming this form reduce your mental capacity or something?"

Naruto, still reeling from the knowledge that Mizuki had sabotaged every part of his test, looked up in confusion. "Demon? What?"

Mizuki took another step closer, driving Naruto to crouch by Hinata's prone form. "You don't know? Hah, that's a laugh! Do you remember how the Yondaime was killed?"

Naruto nodded shakily. "Yeah, he died killing the Kyuubi no Kitsune."

Mizuki snarled. "Wrong! He died _sealing_ the Kyuubi, into a baby. Can you guess who that baby was?"

Naruto's eyes widened as every glare, every harsh word, every beating came back to him in stunning clarity.

 _Fucking demon…._

 _Poisonous child…_

 _You killed my brother, you bastard!_

 _Get away from here, haven't you taken enough!_

 _Kill the demon!_

 _AVENGE THE YONDAIME!_

"No…." he muttered, falling to his knees. He was the Kyuubi. That's why everyone hated him. That's why the village treated him like he was dirt.

Mizuki smirked at the defeated expression on the blonde's face. His eyes traveled to the prone Hyuuga behind him, and dark thoughts entered his mind.

'She's clearly developing behind that coat…' he thought, licking his lips. 'She'll have to die anyway, she knows I attacked Naruto. Might as well have some fun with it…'

Mizuki walked next to Naruto, who remained slouched, staring into nothing. Mizuki extended an arm to remove the girl's coat…

He grit his teeth in pain as a hand shot out, gripping his wrist. He followed the offending appendage back to the blonde, still kneeling in the dirt.

"What…do you think you're doing…" he said slowly, turning his red eyes towards Mizuki. "To Hinata-chan?"

Mizuki snarled, flipping a kunai into a reverse grip and attempting to ram it into Naruto's skull. Naruto squeezed the man's wrist with unnatural strength, causing his attack to falter. The blonde used the time to plant a solid fist into Mizuki's gut, launching him away from the young pair on the ground. Mizuki scowled as he saw Naruto taking a protective stance in front of the young girl, his face feral and his eyes…

"So you've finally decided to show your true self, eh demon?" Mizuki spat. Naruto's crimson eyes glared back at him, no words escaping his mouth.

Mizuki launched some kunai at the boy, coupling it with a fireball. Naruto grabbed Hinata and slung her over his shoulder before leaping off, the weapons and jutsu smashing harmlessly into the tree they had been under. The chuunin followed the pair closely, when suddenly smoke bombs obscured his vision. He leapt high, and saw several pairs of Naruto's and Hinata's scattering out of the smoke. Mizuki grimaced, throwing himself after a pair. He had to finish this quickly.

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

Naruto sat completely still with Hinata's head in his lap, his hand resting on her damp forehead. He had to get her help, but he couldn't risk her getting hurt. More than anything else though, he wanted to hurt Mizuki. Bad. It had taken all of his will power to get Hinata out of harms way instead of fighting, but he had managed it somehow. Now that he could hide her…

He summoned some shadow clones and had them henge into foliage, made to hide her from plain site.

"If anyone tries to get her that we don't know, kill them." Naruto growled, and the low hanging tree inclined its branches in understanding. Naruto felt the last of his clones pop and he rocketed off in the direction of Mizuki. Making some shadow clones who then took to the top of the trees, clenched his fist.

"I'll make you pay…" he muttered.

Mizuki cursed his luck. He had thought the boy had just summoned regular bunshin, but it had turned out they had been kage bunshin. This resulted in him having to actually fight the clones instead of just discerning in they were an illusion or not. Thankfully they didn't have weapons on them, seeing as how the boy wasn't a registered ninja yet, but the boy's clones were still able to dodge his kunai swipes with some effectiveness, resulting in a cracked rib and split eyebrow for the silver-haired chuunin. As he launched himself in the direction the last pair had gone, he leapt to the side, dodging an orange missile that had come rocketing from the foliage above. Upon missing, Naruto caught himself on the tree trunk with chakra, before launching off and attempting a head kick on Mizuki. He caught the blonde's leg before plunging his kunai into his stomach, dispelling the now-known clone. Several more dropped from above and he found himself defending from multiple clones at once. Mizuki started panting from the exertion of a broken rib and having to dodge 4 Naruto's at once, and he knew he didn't have long before he would be overpowered by sheer numbers. He let himself drop from his branch, and drew a kunai with an explosive tag. He rammed it into one of the branches as he fell, and as the Naruto clones launched themselves at him, he activated the tag. The resulting explosion took out all the clones as well as a few others who had been trying to make their way to Mizuki's blind spot. A body fell from the trees and hit the ground, groaning. Mizuki smirked, making his way to the orange clad boy before picking him up by his shirt.

"And now you'll die, you pathetic excuse of a demon. Any last words?" he said, holding the kunai to the blonde's throat. To his surprise, the blonde grinned cheekily at him, and held up a single finger.

"Boom." He said. The clone's body suddenly erupted into a mass expulsion of energy, launching Mizuki's body through a weaker tree before impacting on a much larger one, which halted his progression. His body fell to the ground roughly, his arm laying useless at an odd angle.

Naruto slowly walked up to the broken man, the fuma shuriken that had impaled Hinata in his hand.

"You…were going to kill Hinata-chan…" he said, starting to twirl the weapon in his hand. Although scared, Mizuki sneered at the crimson-eyed boy.

"What do you care, demon? I don't know how you've seduced her with your tricks, but she doesn't truly care about you. No one does, you hear me?! HOW CAN ANYONE LOVE A DEMON?!" he screamed.

Naruto flinched, but kept his advance steady. "That doesn't excuse you for hurting her…" he said with a growl, his red-eyes narrowing. "I'll kill you. Then you can never hurt her again…"

Mizuki's eyes widened and he made to get up, when he felt hands pinning him to the ground. There were several Naruto's surrounding him with bloodthirsty grins on their faces.

'This is it…this is how I die…fucking demon…' Mizuki thought, glaring at the blonde. He watched with fear as the fuma reached frightening speeds, the blade creating a soft whir as it spun through the air. Naruto raised it into the air…

"NARUTO-KUN, DON'T DO IT!"

Naruto slowly turned his head to see Iruka leaping into the clearing, his hands raised in a show of docility.

"I'm not here to hurt you Naruto-kun, I just heard from Hokage-sama what happened. But you can't kill him Naruto-kun, or you'll turn into what he wants you to believe you are!"

Naruto blinked, the man's wording seeming strange to him. "What I…believe I am?" he turned towards Iruka, planting the shuriken into the ground. "Iruka-sensei…" Naruto said, his hair obscuring his eyes. "Am I….a demon? Am I really…the Kyuubi?"

Iruka flinched, glaring at the traitorous chuunin being held down. He had revealed THAT to him…

He sighed deeply, causing the blonde to look at him with wide, ocean blue eyes. "No, Naruto-kun…you are not the Kyuubi. I admit, many in the village see you at it, and I did as well. But seeing how tenderly you treat your friends, how you strive to protect those close to you and to protect the village…a demon wouldn't do those things, Naruto-kun."

Naruto's breath hitched. He…he wasn't a demon…

"So he was lying…" Naruto said, a smile beginning to form. "The Kyuubi was killed…"

"He wasn't lying about the Kyuubi being sealed inside you Naruto-kun." Iruka said sadly, drawing a sad look from the blonde. "However, it's just that. It's sealed in you. If I seal a kunai into a scroll, does the scroll become the kunai? No, you are the demon's container Naruto, something very noble and important."

Naruto nodded, Iruka's words ringing true in his ears. "Thank you, Iruka-sensei…."

Iruka nodded, before looking at Mizuki, who was still pinned to the ground. "I see you've subdued Mizuki, Naruto-kun. That's not an easy task."

Naruto scratched the back of his head while his clones smirked. "Well, I had a surprise jutsu so…"

Iruka smiled, walking up to Naruto. "Close your eyes, Naruto."

Naruto did as he was told, and felt something wrapping around his head. "You can open them."

The first thing Naruto noticed was his sensei's headband was gone. "Iruka-sensei, where…." His hand came up and felt the metal resting on his forehead, and his eyes immediately began to water.

"You obviously have the skills to be a genin if you can defeat a chuunin Naruto-kun, I see no reason to fail you." Iruka said happily, hugging the newly dubbed genin. "Good job, Naruto-kun."

Naruto cried into Iruka's chest. He had done it. He was a ninja.

'And soon I'll have the power to protect you even better, Hinata-chan, Sasuke.' Naruto thought. 'Just you wait…'

* * *

Sorry to end it a bit abruptly, but the story should start advancing nicely from here. Again, sorry it took so long, I got into a bit of a slump after I got back, and as I stated before I don't write unless I'm feeling it to make sure I actually care about quality of the story. It'll be another 2 weeks (at least) until the next update, so if you want to read shit from me in the meantime, my story **The Art of Healing** is a NaruxFemKyuu high school fic I wrote a while back. I'm thinking of rereading it and writing a prequel, so if that kind of thing interests you, go give it a look. Thanks for all your support, see you guys next time.

Note 1: Also didn't do much editing of this one, save for some spelling errors that were easy to catch. Will try and go back for grammar later, thanks for bearing with me.


	9. New Teams

Story now, A/N at end. Read my friends, read.

* * *

 _"You obviously have the skills to be a genin if you can defeat a chuunin Naruto-kun. I see no reason to fail you." Iruka said happily, hugging the newly dubbed genin. "Good job, Naruto-kun."_

 _Naruto cried into Iruka's chest. He had done it. He was a ninja._

 _'And soon I'll have the power to protect you even better, Hinata-chan, Sasuke.' Naruto thought, 'Just you wait...'_

* * *

Naruto sat by the bedside of Hyuuga Hinata, his face full of concern. Today was supposed to be the day the entire class received their jonin instructors, and under normal circumstances Naruto would have been bouncing around the class eager to begin learning more advanced techniques. As it was, however, he had no desire to be anywhere that wasn't Hinata's side.

"Why..." he wondered out loud for the seventh time. "Why did you let yourself get hurt so badly..." he couldn't really comprehend it. Sure, he understood that he would do his best to protect his friends and they him, and he would take some hits for them if necessary. But she almost _died_. The blade had been only an inch from her spinal column, which would have meant almost certain paralization, or death. With the thought that the bluenette had almost died protecting him, Naruto felt a new wave of guilt and disgust with himself. Despite all his training, all his talk of being able to defend his friends and his village, and he froze in his first real combat situation. If Hinata hadn't been there, he would have died. He grimaced as he laid his forhead on the edge of her bed, sighing deeply. Did this mean that all he had done up to this point was a waste of time? Was he not cut out for the shinobi life?

Yes...he was. He was more shocked to see Hinata coming into possible harms way than anything else; the harming of his precious people was unfathomable to him after all. That was proved wrong, however, and the evidence of his foolish ideal was sleeping peacefully in front of him.

Feeling deja vu, Naruto remembered that he had been in a similar situation only a few years previous. That time it had been both Hinata AND Sasuke in the hospital, despite their wounds not being physical. He had felt equally useless and remorseful, except this time, he had been there with Hinata. And he had failed her.

Naruto leaned forward, grasping one of her hands with both of his own. He needed to get even stronger. Seeing her cough blood, seeing the sharp metal sinking into her soft flesh, hearing her pant with the effort it had taken just to breath. It was all torture to him. He never wanted to feel that helpless again...

Or that angry. What was that voice? It had steadily grown during his encounter with Mizuki, faint and disconnected at first, but growing to whisper promises of power and the ability to rip apart his enemies at the end. The power had felt good, and he was about to fulfill it's condition of ending the pathetic life of Mitsuki when Iruka had thankfully stopped him. If he had taken that last step, what kind of power would he had gotten? Did he make a mistake in not getting it? It seemed like he would have no trouble protecting his friends if he had it. But...it had felt...wrong, somehow. Was that...the voice of the demon sealed inside him? The voice of the dreaded Kyuubi no Kitsune?

It did help him become a ninja, however. Which brought him back to his original thoughts, on which team he would be placed. Idealy, it would be both Hinata and Sasuke, though if Naruto were truthful with himself, as long as Hinata were on his team, he'd be ok. Seeing as how they were all the top 3 students in the class, he doubted they would all get to stay together on the same team, despite the numerous people Naruto was friendly with that could help tug the strings of those that assigned the teams.

Hearing a delicate yawn, Naruto's eyes snapped up to see Hinata's gazing back into his with surprise written on her face. She blinked once before realizing how close their faces were, her blush quickly rising to its peak.

"N-N-N-N-Naruto-kun, wh-wh-what are you d-d-d-doing?" she managed to stutter out, sounding like she had when Naruto had first met her. He chuckled a little at her expense, rubbing his thumn on the back of her hand that he still had in his grasp.

"Making sure you're ok, Hinata-chan..." he said gently, gazing at their combined appendages. "You really worried me, y'know?"

Hinata's heart skipped a beat, despite knowing that Naruto's reaction would likely be similar for any of his friends. "I'm f-fine, Naruto-kun..."

Naruto nodded, tracing different patterns into the young girl's flesh. She shivered at the contact, subconsciously wishing he would draw the same patterns into her back and hair as he kissed her and...

Her blush came back in full force. Her dreams just before she had woken had been particularly...pleasant, and seemed to want to invade her conscious thoughts as well as her unconscious ones.

"I know..." Naruto said, too distracted to notice the bluenette's internal dilemas. "But...it was scary, y'know? Seeing you bleeding out on me, with that giant weapon in your back..." he shivered, gripping her hand tighter without thinking. Hinata noticed his distress and gripped back, hoping to project soothing thoughts into him.

"I...I kn-know exactly how you f-f-feel, N-Naruto-kun..." she said, causing him to look up in surprise. She swallowed the lump in her throat; hopefully Naruto wouldn't hate her for this.

"When we w-were kids...I...a-ahh...I s-s-saw some v-villagers a-attack you..." she said nervously, noting how Naruto's face tightened in repressed pain. "I was r-r-really worried a-about you...at that time..."

Naruto shook his head, trying to rid his brain of some of the bad memories, before squinting at her in confusion.

"What, did I even know you then...? Oh well, it doesn't really matter..." HInata breathed a sigh of relief at not having to explain how she had stalked him for well over a year before finally introducing herself. "Anyways...I have the perfect solution!"

Hinata blinked, before giving Naruto her full attention (not that he didn't have it before). Naruto punched his open hand, giving her his signature foxy grin.

"We'll both train our hardest with our new teams so that we get super strong! Hopefully we get the same sensei and are on the same team!" he added, scratching the back of his head. "Getting to hang out with you every day would make me really happy, y'know?"

Hinata felt faint. Naruto wanted to be with her every day. 'I want to be by your side forever, Naruto.' she thought, as Inner-HInata swooned and was caught by the imaginary Naruto she had thought up. "I...w-w-w-would a-a-also l-like that...N-Naruto-kun..." she said shakily, cursing her lack of confidence in front of her crush. It had taken all her power and will to keep her stoic facade up while around others, but the pressure of being alone with the boy was too much. She knew that they would be on the same team, after all, the Sandaime couldn't say no after she had a...nice conversation with him...

She shook the thought away, happy to be spending time with Naruto. Just as she was about to begin asking him questions about his day, however, the door to her room opened, and the Sandaime Hokage stepped inside.

"Good morning Naruto-kun - ah, I see you have woken up Hinata, how are you feeling?" he asked with care in his voice. Hinata smiled at the man, happy that Naruto had him in his life.

"I am feeling well, Hokage-sama, thank you for your concern." she said, before tilting her head at him. "Is our...arrangement as planned?"

Naruto watched curiously as the Hokage's face paled, before he nodded briskly. "Ah...yes...about that, young Hyuuga...the primary objective that we discussed is achieved, while the secondary was not possible. The next best option was, however, so our deal is..."

"Complete. I am very satisfied with that, thank you Hokage-sama." Hinata said, a bright smile on her face. Naruto looked confusedly back and forth between the Hokage and his best friend. He didn't understand what was going on...

Hiruzen coughed, pulling Naruto's attention. "Anyway, I came to assign the two of you to your genin team-

"Wait, _TEAM?_ DOES THAT MEAN WE GOT ONTO THE SAME TEAM, JIJI?!" Naruto exclaimed, looking excitedly from Hinata to the Sandaime. HInata looked unsurprised, but happy at Naruto's reaction, while the elderly Hokage simply laughed amusedly at the blonde's boundless energy.

"Thanks for stealing my bravado, Naruto-kun - but yes, you and young Hinata are on the same team, along with..." Hiruzen took a second, relishing the look of impatience on Naruto's face.

"Aburame Shino." he said, and saw Naruto give him a bright smile.

"Awesome!" he exclaimed, scratching his head. "I kinda hoped it would be Sasuke, but I kind of figured we wouldn't be allowed on the same team since we were both super high in rankings. I'm just super happy that I get to be with HInata-chan!" he said, playfully ruffling Hinata's hair. The girl in question flushed at his ministrations but smiled nonetheless, leaning into his hand as her eyes half-closed. Hiruzen, while happy for Naruto, couldn't help but reminise on exactly HOW they had gotten on the same team.

'She's going to be a good shinobi for sure...' he thought, but before he could recall the actual events in question, Naruto interupted his thoughts.

"Hey hey, Jiji, who's our jonin sensei?" Naruto asked eagerly. "Is it Kakashi-niisan? He said he might be able to train me this year!"

Hiruzen sighed, a bit sad to break the news to his surrogate grandson. "No Naruto, I'm afraid that Kakashi-san will be taking on a different genin team this year." Naruto's face visibly fell, and the Hokage felt the angry eyes of a certain Hyuuga on him. He sighed - he was getting too old for this.

"To answer the inevitable 'why'," he began, "Do you know what Kakashi-san possesses, Naruto?"

Naruto nodded, pointing to his left eye. "The sharingan, right?"

Hinata looked a bit shocked at the news, but the Sandaime nodded sagely. "Yes, exactly. He was also an ANBU captain, and as such is going to be training a combat specialty squad. You were, in fact, going to be part of that same squad. But after some...deliberation, and your ability to use Kage Bunshin, we decided that it was acceptable to swap you and Inuzuka Kiba. You see, the squad you are being placed in was supposed to be a special tracking squad. We have, however, shifted the focus to be equal parts tracking and information gathering. While Hinata and Shino have the ability to discover groups of enemies from afar, your ability to retain information that your shadow clones have makes you invaluable as an intel gatherer."

Naruto nodded at the logic, happy that his unique skills (or rather, skill) could be considered something 'invaluable'. He was certainly on the right path to becoming Hokage.

"That being said," the old man continued, "Uchiha Sasuke will be on the very team you left." Naruto's face fell a little at this, but with a reassuring look from Hinata his smile returned. "His team comprises of himself, Kiba, and Haruno Sakura. Since the only one who can train Sasuke in the use of the sharingan is Kakashi, and his combat experiance is already almost unparalleled, he is needed to train that squad."

Naruto nodded, understanding, while Hinata looked a bit more docile with Naruto's acceptance of the situation. "So, who is our other member? And our jonin sensei?" Naruto asked, missing the blank look on Hiruzen's face.

"...I already said who your teammate would be, Naruto." the Sandaime said, while Naruto looked at him blankly.

"N-Naruto-kun..." Hinata started softly, "he s-said that m-my own and Sh-Shino-sans abilities are u-useful in t-t-tracking, remember...?" she looked at him with a bit of disbelief. "He a-also said that h-h-he was o-our teammate earlier..."

Naruto's face lit up as he cupped the bottom of his fist. "Oh yeah! So Shino's gonna be our third? That's awesome!" Naruto exclaimed, smiling brightly. Shino was his next closest friend after Hinata and Sasuke, after all.

"You still haven't told us who our jonin sensei is, jiji." Naruto said with annoyance coating his voice. The Sandaime chuckled a bit, eyeing the blonde with amusement.

"Well, Naruto-kun, maybe if you could stay on track with our conversation for longer than a minute or two, I would have gotten to it by now." the elderly shinobi said, mirth shining in his eyes. "It would also help if I didn't have to repeat myself..."

Naruto was about to retort when he heard Hinata's soft giggle coming from the bed. His words melted in his mouth as he smiled at her, gripping her hand.

"Yeah...you're right jiji. I'm sorry. Now who is it!" he exclaimed, shaking his and Hinata's joined hands up and down in impatience. Hinata was blushing fiercly and Hiruzen decided that he would put them our of their misery.

"Well, it's-"

"Yuhi Kurenai," A feminine voice rang out, as the door to Hinata's room opened. "Genjutsu mistress of Konoha, at your service."

Naruto turned his eyes to the newcomer, and took her appearance in. She was a relatively young looking jonin, with black hair and, surprisingly enough, scarlet eyes. Her outfit was comprised of a small shirt and shorts, with everything being wrapped in bandages. Overall, she was a very pretty woman, and obviously quite powerful.

"Wow, you're our sensei?" Naruto asked, "What kind of cool stuff are you going to teach us?"

Kurenai smiled at the enthusiasm of the young boy, moving aside so that Shino could make his way into the room. Naruto greeted the boy with enthusiasm, while Hinata offered him a friendly greeting. Once they were all side by side, Kurenai looked at the Hokage.

"Hokage-sama, might I humbly request I be left alone with my team so that we may begin with our team-building?" she asked, bowing slightly. The Sandaime nodded, offering the woman a warm smile.

"Of course you can. Hinata, make sure you get better soon, and Naruto, make sure you take care of her, alright?" he said with a meaningful look. Naruto looked confused, and was even more so when he spotted Hinata hiding a small blush.

"...did I miss something?" he asked, eliciting yet another chuckle from the old Hokage.

"No, nothing at all Naruto-kun. Have a good day." he said, tipping his large hat as he left the room.

Kurenai turned to face her team, and saw that the female had quickly adopted a stoic exterior. She frowned internally, wondering how she could go from acting so bashful around Naruto and the Sandaime, to classic Hyuuga in a split second. She would have to look into it.

"Now then," Kurenai began, sitting on the bed opposite Hinata. "I'm aware that the three of you know each other fairly well, but I don't, so we'll start with some basic things about yourselves. Your likes, dislikes, hobbies, goals, dreams...that sort of thing." she said with a smile. Upon receiving a nod from her three new students, she spoke again. "Here, I'll start. My name is Yuhi Kurenai. I like dango and my friend Anko, while I dislike those who take the easy path in anything concerning life. My hobbies are to train and tend to my garden, while my dream is to become the most powerful genjutsu user in the Shinobi world, as well as start a family one day."

She gestured to Naruto, who scratched the back of his head while smiling brightly. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I like ramen and Hinata-chan (said bluenette suddenly went into a coughing fit to duck her head under the covers to hide her blush), and I dislike anyone who looks down on others for no good reason. My hobbies are...well, I guess my one hobby is training, and my dream is to be the greatest Hokage ever!"

Kurenai nodded, smiling warmly at the blonde. His aspiration to be Hokage was widely known, and she thought it was perfect motivation for training. She looked towards the female at his side who had recovered from her 'itchy throat'.

"My name is Hyuuga Hinata." she said in an even tone. Kurenai noticed Naruto frown slightly but not say anything. 'Oh, I most definitely have to look into this.' She thought. "I like cinnamon buns and training...and N-N-Naruto-k-kun..." she stuttered briefly, flushing a bright red before composing herself and continuing as if the episode never happened. "I dislike those who put down others for things beyond their control. My dream is to one day unite the Branch and Main houses of Hyuuga, to rid my clan of the hate they possess."

Kurenai saw the young girl glance at Naruto, subtly pushing her index fingers together, and guessed as to what another of the girl's dreams might be. 'I really hope she doesn't turn out to be as dull as some of the other infatuated girls who come through the academy. The quality of kunoichi has really dulled these past few years...'

She nodded her head towards Shino, who adjusted his glasses further up his nose. "My name is Aburame Shino. I like studying insects, and tending to the plants that they enjoy. I dislike those who judge others unfairly, and those without open minds-"

"Why?" Naruto asked suddenly, giving Shino an inquisitive look. Shino almost looked caught off-guard.

"Because, those who are outside the Aburame clan usually look down at us in disgust due to our bodies containing our hives." Shino said, adjusting his glasses again. Naruto nodded, allowing the boy to continue.

"My dream is to one day discover a new variety of insect that can help reduce casualties in the field. A sort of medical insect, I suppose."

"Why?" Naruto's voice rang again, and Shino turned to him with a single eyebrow raised. Kurenai barely suppressed a giggle at her teams antics.

"Because, with enough control over our Kikaichu, the chakra that we drain from our opponents can be transfered to ourselves, or our allies. If you couple that with having insects that can help repair muscle and tissue damage, an Aburame on the team could keep the rest of them in fighting condition for significantly longer. It also solves the problem that med-nin have with needing both time and cover to administer first aid in the middle of a fight, which is rarely given."

Naruto nodded again, giving his companion a thumbs up. Shino nodded at him, before turning to their sensei.

Kurenai smiled at the three of them. "Excellent, I feel like we will all work very well together. However, seeing as how Hinata needs another day or two of rest, our first training session will not be for three days. You two are capable of training on your own, correct?" Kurenai inquired from the two boys. Shino nodded, while Naruto gave her a thumbs up.

"Training is my hobby after all, Kurenai-sensei!" he said brightly. She smiled at him.

"Of course, Naruto." Kurenai said. "Now then, the two of you are to train yourselves the next few days while Hinata recovers. Three days from now, meet at 8 AM at training ground 6, got it?"

The three of them responded with a chorus of "Hai, sensei." and she took her leave. As she exited the room, Shino turned to face Naruto.

"Naruto-san," Shino said, grabbing the blonde's attention. "I intend to train with my clan for better control of my hive in the coming days, so please do not be upset when I don't join you for training."

Naruto nodded, smiling brightly at the bug user. "Of course Shino! Don't worry about it, I never want you to feel bad for training with your family. If I had a family, I'd train with them all the time, y'know?"

Shino nodded, waving as he left as well. Naruto turned around to face Hinata, and found her gazing sadly at him, lost in thought.

He waved his hand in front of her face, shocking her from her concentration. "Hellooo, earth to Hinata-chan!"

Hinata blushed, ducking her head. She muttered a sort of apology while Naruto frowned slightly.

"Why were you looking so sad, Hinata-chan?" Naruto questioned, looking at the hand his had abandoned while he talked to Shino. Maybe he should grab it again...

"I j-just..." Hinata said, a tinge of sadness to her voice. Naruto sat down on the edge of her bed, agreeing with his previous thought and gently taking her hand in his. She flushed at the contact, but squeezed the appendage nonetheless.

"I th-think it's u-u-unfair...that you d-didn't get to grow up with a f-family..." she said, pain evident in her eyes. "You sh-should be able to t-t-train with th-them...and m-make them proud..."

Naruto's eyes became a bit downcast as he dropped his mask of happiness. Hinata was part of a group of people Naruto allowed to see his true feelings, and the number of people in that group was small enough that he could count them on one hand.

"...thank you, Hinata-chan, for saying that..." he said, giving her a sad smile. "But...I like to think that my mom and dad are watching me from the afterlife, and rooting for me, y'know? I think that if they could see how hard I work, that they would be proud of me. I mean, I don't know them, so maybe they wouldn't-"

"They would be proud of you, Naruto-kun." Hinata said fiercely, and Naruto's eyes shot up at the conviction in her statement. Her eyes were burning with a wild passion. As soon as she saw his gazing into hers in awe, however, it dulled significantly, replaced by shyness. It wasn't completely extinguished, however.

"They would...b-be v-v-very p-proud...of the p-person you've b-become..." she said a bit quieter, but the message was clear.

Naruto leaned forward, wrapping the girl into a tight hug. Hinata froze, her face quickly reddening as if someone had applied a coat of paint to it.

"Thank you...Hinata-chan..." Naruto said, his voice full of emotion. Hinata felt her arms wrap themselves around Naruto, holding his just as tightly as he was her. 'I'm...I'm hugging Naruto-kun...' she thought, burying her face into his shoulder. She inhaled his scent, and was overwhelmed. It was definitely stronger coming from the source than the discarded garments she occasionally snatched.

Naruto broke apart from her (to her disappointment), wiping his eyes on his sleeve. "I'm really glad...to have someone like you in my life, Hinata-chan, y'know?" he said, giving her a soft, heartfelt smile. Hinata felt her heart squeeze against her body as it grew to enormous sizes with the sheer amount of love she felt towards the blonde at that moment in time.

She tugged his sleeve, and he quickly embraced her again. She flushed less severely this time, holding onto him with all her strength.

'I'm so lucky to have you with me as well, Naruto-kun...' she thought as she drifted to sleep holding onto the boy of her dreams. 'I hope that one day...you cherish me in the same way I do you...Naruto-kun...I love you...'

 **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**

It was finally the day they were supposed to start their training, and Naruto was feeling more hyper than ever. He and Hinata stood in the clearing of training ground 3; well, Hinata was sitting, meditating peacefully on the ground, while Naruto fidgeted with everything he had on his person. He adjusted his headband, twirled some kunai around his fingers, and had been about to start tossing shuriken at individual leaves on the trees that surrounded them, when Shino came into the clearing they were in.

"Good morning Hinata-san, Naruto-san." he said, eyeing Naruto's slightly insane eyes and how he had been about to disassemble the surrounding foliage with his shuriken. "I take it something annoys you, Naruto-san?"

Naruto's curious nature instantly picked up, something that just seemed to happen around Shino. "Why do you say that?"

Shino rolled his eyes, the action hidden beneath his sunglasses. He should've known the blonde would seek an explanation immediately; he should really start anticipating the question. "Why? Because you were about to waste all of your tools throwing them into the forest, and your continuous movement of your appendages suggests that you are anxious."

Naruto took a second to register what Shino said, realization dawning in his eyes. "Oh, yeah! I guess I'm just really eager to start today's training, that's all. After all, Kurenai-sensei is supposed to be super strong! She's-"

"One of the youngest Kunoichi's to reach jonin since Tsunade herself?" A voice rang out, eerily familiar to Naruto and Hinata. Shino grimaced slightly, not being on the receiving end last time. It was...slightly creepy. "The foremost expert on genjutsu in Konohagakure? The only one to steal one of Anko's dango sticks and survive with all body parts intact?"

"Hey hey, that last one is weird, y'know?" Naruto said, bristling. "And where are you, this surrounding-voice thing is weird too, y'kn-"

Naruto felt cold steel press against his throat, and he froze. Turning his head slightly, he saw that Kurenai was behind him, holding her kunai reverse-gripped. He thought he saw a blue head of hair behind her as well...

"Lesson 1, Naruto," Kurenai said clearly, "Detecting and dispelling enemy genjutsu." She glanced behind her, at the girl who had the center of her palm resting over her spine. 'This girl is fast...not only did she dispel the illusion that I placed on them, she was on me less than a second after I was in position to "take Naruto out". I guess she isn't one of those lovelorn academy fools...' Kurenai thought, smiling. Her devotion certainly seemed to be a powerful tool for her. "As you can see, Naruto, Hinata already was able to do both, as well as react to the enemy, while you would have had your throat slit."

Naruto paled when he heard this, holding some solace in the fact that if nothing else, Hinata would be able to escape from the illusions.

"Shino, I expect your Kikaichu assisted you in breaking the genjutsu?" Kurenai asked, seeing the stoic boy nod. "I expected as much. I want you to try and get better at doing it on your own, as practice in case you're ever caught without your hive at full strength, understood?" Again, the boy nodded.

"Naruto, not only did you not detect the genjutsu, which I made apparent to those who knew the signs, but you had your defenses down the entire time. That is not a wise choice to make."

Naruto's eyes darkened at her words. "Sorry, Kurenai- _sensei_ , but I've had to watch behind my back my entire life. I like to think that I can let my defenses down just a little when I'm with my precious people..."

Kurenai inwardly smacked herself. She had planned out her speeches, her actions and how she would take command of her very first genin team all night and morning, and she had already committed a fatal error. 'Each student comes from a different path of life, and some, like Naruto, had very, VERY dark paths...' she thought, grimacing. 'Shit...'

"...You're right, Naruto. I'm very sorry to have hit that certain nerve." she said, bowing slightly to him. Naruto was taken aback, not used to having such sincere apologies given to him by anyone other than Hinata.

"Th-That's ok, sensei. I get what you're saying though, I'll try and be more aware." Naruto said, scratching the back of his head. "But...what's the signs of genjutsu again? I think that was one of the things I slept through before Hinata-chan started making me listen to those lectures..."

Said girl had stepped back and watched the interaction between the two, analyzing Kurenai's behavior closely.

'It seems that she has no intentions to hurt Naruto-kun or sabotage his training...her concern with his past seems genuine...she seems like...a good sensei.' Inner Hinata nodded, drawing on a sign before revealing a bright red '8' on it. She's not to be underestimated though, that was a weak illusion. I'll have to help Naruto-kun with genjutsu lessons...lessons...with N-Naruto-kun...' A bed suddenly appeared next to the chibi Inner Hinata, who was suddenly wearing something much more...revealing. 'Not like that Naruto-kun...no, like this...if you break the illusion, you get a r-reward...ehe...ehehee...'

Naruto nodded as Kurenai finished her lecture. 'Ok, so spot the lack of minute detail, or lack of familiar sounds. That'll make it much more difficult to spot genjutsu in enemy territory...I wonder how easy it is for Hinata to figure out that stuff...'

Naruto glanced over to see Hinata staring blankly into the forest with a weird grin on her face, as well as a steady trail of blood leaking from one of her nostrils. Naruto blinked.

'Genjutsu is weird...' He concluded, a sweatdrop forming on his head.

* * *

Hey all, thanks for being patient with me concerning this story. I've been very busy for a little while, and am very happy to have managed to get this chapter out. The next one should be out by next friday, after which will be another break of about 2 weeks (work schedule, not my choice).

Shoutout to for pointing out Iruka would have not trained, but if anything trained WITH Itachi. Very nice catch, and I'm glad I could fix that.

 **SilentSambo88** \- Your first point about allowing him to sabotage the test, how can an academy student accuse a seasoned chunin of sabotage? That's not even to say that it wouldn't go straight to the hokage if taken the official route - more to the school's higher staff, who would likely dismiss the case due to it being Naruto. As for her getting herself hurt, well, that one should be obvious. He was about to get hurt, maybe killed, and she moved on her own. Similar to Sasuke in canon's Land of Waves arc, but with more love and less hesitant friendship.

Your second point, well Iruka and Naruto are much closer than mere student and teacher. After all, in Naruto Gaiden, he asks Iruka to be his father in his wedding. And while that is a great deal in the future, it is seen very early how their relationship develops as one of the first to acknowledge Naruto.

Your third point will be explained via plot, hurray!

Thanks for the thoughts though, I'm glad to see that you're taking enough of an interest to want to improve upon supposed mistakes in the story, and I humbly thank you for that.

I'm in a time crunch as I'm writing this, so that'll be it for individual recognitions. But don't let that fool you guys, I read every. single. review. that gets put on here. Thank you all for taking the time to suggest things to me via pm's or reviews, for following the story, etc. It's the encouragement I get from you guys that helps me push out more and more chapters despite this being a lonely time in my life. I hope you all have a splendid day, and I'll see you guys next time.

P.S. As an afterthought, please continue to point out things you think are an error in the story, whether or not it is opinionated or factual to canon. There's no telling what I'm planning to change anyway, so I might have just missed it. Thanks again for helping, you guys are the best!

EDIT 1: Changed Shino's dream after some information regarding the Aburame clan was pointed out to me, makes more sense now

 **OMAKE**

Hiruzen had seen better days. First the council is in uproar about the 'demon' about to graduate from the academy, there was in incident in the marketing district involving one very angry man's cabbages, and it seemed like several young girls had broken into the Uchiha compound to try and 'win Sasuke-kun's love'.

All in all, he just wanted to sit in his chair, smoke his pipe, and sit down for a good read...

He opened the door to his office, ready to activate his privacy seals, when he noticed something was off.

Someone was sitting in his chair.

"Good evening, Hokage-sama."

"Good evening, Hinata-san." Hiruzen said warily, raising as eyebrow at the bluenette who was currently lounging in his chair. "I must say I'm surprised to see you in here so...casually. This is the kind of thing I would expect from Naruto-kun, not you."

The girl smiled at the mention of the blonde, and her gaze became just that much more fierce. "Well you see, Hokage-sama, that is why I'm here. For Naruto-kun."

The elderly Hokage frowned. "Has something happened, is he alright?"

She nodded. "He's fine, Hokage-sama. Excited to graduate, is all. And about that..."

"I want Naruto-kun on my team."

Hiruzen sighed, he really should have seen this coming. "I know you do, and I wish to put you on a team with him, but the council..."

"Fuck the council." she growled. Hiruzen's eyebrows shot into the brim of his hat at her tone of voice. "To hell with them. I want Naruto-kun on my team. And Sasuke too, if you can manage it." she added as an afterthought. "It would make him happiest. But first and foremost, we need to be on the same team."

Hiruzen shook his head sadly. "The headache the councilmen would cause...not to mention we already have written up the teams..."

"I think this might change your mind." she said, reaching under the desk. His eyebrows furrowed at the mystery of it all, before his face paled considerably.

"That...y-you can't...that is, to say..."

She was holding up his limited edition, autographed with several exclusive illustrations within, Icha Icha Paradise.

"I know all about your...reading preferences, Hokage-sama." she said, deadpanning. Besides this book, I have several pictures of you reading it, thinking to be alone in your office."

"Ho...How did you catch me?" the elderly man asked, his voice shaking.

"I can be stealthy if I need to." Hinata said, a faint blush staining her cheeks. "That aside, if I can get onto a team with Naruto-kun, you'll find that this book will have never left it's hiding spot, and those pictures never existed in the first place."

Hiruzen stared at her, disbelieving for a second. This girl, this 12 year old girl, was blackmailing him. With his own porn. He was Hokage, god damnit, he didn't have to take this!

"Of course, Hinata-san," he said, rubbing his temples. If he was truthful with himself, he had wanted to personally swap the teams up, but had been reluctant to accept the burden of the council's everlasting bitching. After all, with Naruto being a no-name ninja, Kakashi would have a reason to train their last Uchiha almost exclusively. With a potential heir of a clan head being inserted, however...after all, there was only one swap he could think of off the top of his head...he sighed again. Although it was troublesome (Shikamaru sneezed somewhere, wondering what was so bothersome that someone adopted his phrase), he silently thanked the young girl for the excuse to place her and Naruto together. "I will swap the teams. Don't expect all those conditions fulfilled, however. I still have to think of the village."

Hinata nodded, smiling warmly at the old man. "Thank you, Hokage-sama...this means a lot to me..."

"I know it does," the old man laughed, casting a knowing look at her. "After all, it will be much easier for Naruto to return your affections if he's nearby..."

Hinata blushed, her mouth opening to retort, but Hiruzen waved her down. "Now now, I'm just teasing...kind of."

Hinata huffed, before getting up and bowing. She left the office with a smile on her face, thinking of all the opportunities she would get to show Naruto just how much she cared.


	10. Surprises

Hey all! Back with another chapter, going to make this opening short since the ending will ultimately be my schedule going forward, as well as anything else I might think of. That being said, enjoy!

* * *

 _"...You're right, Naruto. I'm very sorry to have hit that certain nerve." she said, bowing slightly to him. Naruto was taken aback, not used to having such sincere apologies given to him by anyone other than Hinata._

 _"Th-That's ok, sensei. I get what you're saying though, I'll try and be more aware." Naruto said, scratching the back of his head. "But...what's the signs of genjutsu again? I think that was one of the things I slept through before Hinata-chan started making me listen to those lectures..."_

 _Said girl had stepped back and watched the interaction between the two, analyzing Kurenai's behavior closely._

 _'It seems that she has no intentions to hurt Naruto-kun or sabotage his training...her concern with his past seems genuine...she seems like...a good sensei.' Inner Hinata nodded, drawing on a sign before revealing a bright red '8' on it. She's not to be underestimated though, that was a weak illusion. I'll have to help Naruto-kun with genjutsu lessons...lessons...with N-Naruto-kun...' A bed suddenly appeared next to the chibi Inner Hinata, who was suddenly wearing something much more...revealing. 'Not like that Naruto-kun...no, like this...if you break the illusion, you get a r-reward...ehe...ehehee...'_

 _Naruto nodded as Kurenai finished her lecture. 'Ok, so spot the lack of minute detail, or lack of familiar sounds. That'll make it much more difficult to spot genjutsu in enemy territory...I wonder how easy it is for Hinata to figure out that stuff...'_

 _Naruto glanced over to see Hinata staring blankly into the forest with a weird grin on her face, as well as a steady trail of blood leaking from one of her nostrils. Naruto blinked._

 _'Genjutsu is weird...' He concluded, a sweatdrop forming on his head._

* * *

Naruto quickly wiped the sweat from his forehead, his eyes darting around the unfamiliar clearing he found himself in.

'Only two big trees….hole in that one…four clouds overhead…shit…squirrel? No, log…'

Suddenly, he had the realization that earlier in the day, he had not spotted a cloud in the sky. He remembered because Hinata had pointed it out while absently looking into his eyes, and had immediately blushed and looked away. It still vexed him why she did certain things that she did, but now that she was on his team he would have to look into his. He had to understand how she worked, or he wouldn't be able to pair with her well in fights. While many thought Naruto dense (which he was, to be fair), when it came to combat and training, he was practically a genius. He knew the key to victory was to remain unpredictable so that no enemy could prepare for you.

"It's the clouds, Kurenai-sensei!" he shouted to no one, and suddenly the clouds wavered from his vision, along with a bush he had been uncertain about.

"Good job Naruto-kun, you spotted that one much quicker than the others." Kurenai said, stepping up and giving him a proud smile. Naruto grinned bashfully, scratching the back of his head.

"Well, I remembered something Hinata-chan said earlier today so it wasn't completely me…"

Said bluenette blushed and ducked her head as she continued to do squats on the river that cut through the training ground. She glanced at the stoic Aburame at her side, hoping that he hadn't heard anything, and to her relief he seemed to be concentrating hard on simply balancing on the water.

It had been about 2 weeks since they had formed team 8, and Kurenai had quickly put them through various exercises to determine their strengths and weaknesses. While Naruto had godly stamina and chakra reserves, which would make him a ninjutsu powerhouse given he had a solid repertoire of different techniques, Kurenai refused to teach him a single new jutsu until he could at least dispel some minor illusions common to chunin in a fairly short amount of time. After all, Naruto's strength, while large, was easily countered by his weakness of genjutsu, which was a very large weakness in Kurenai's opinion. After all, she had demonstrated it the first day she met them; if an enemy skilled in genjutsu weaves you into their jutsu and you can't break free, all the strength you possess means nothing if you get a kunai jabbed into your skull. As such, she had been drilling him daily in breaking her genjutsu, and while progress was slow (unbearably slow), he was slowly moving forward. He had taken it upon himself to continue training himself after the team sessions so as to not fall behind, and Kurenai admired his dedication. That was why she had planned a little surprise for her team today.

"Ok you two, come over here!" Kurenai called out. Hinata and Shino obliged, lightly jogging across the surface of the water to join Naruto in front of their sensei. "Now, the three of you have really taken to the training I've given you with few complaints," she shot a withering look at Naruto, who rubbed the back of his head nervously, "…and despite those few hiccups, I feel a reward is in order for you guys."

"AW YEAH! I ALWAYS WANTED A…wait, what are we getting?" Naruto asked, looking sheepish. Kurenai's trained eyes saw the corner of Hinata's mouth twitch, as if she wanted to smile at the exclamation, but kept herself from doing so.

'I really need to crack that girl's shell…' Kurenai thought as she rummaged around in her pouch. 'The report said that she was subjected to Itachi's special genjutsu, Tsukuyomi…I should probably start with that…'

Pulling herself from her thoughts, Kurenai produced three slips of paper, looking expectantly at her genin team. The only emotion Shino and Hinata showed was surprise as their eyebrows raised, clearly not expecting this. Naruto, on the other hand…

"What the hell are those?" he asked, squinting at the small papers. "Is it, like, a tiny scroll with some awesome technique? Or are they super-deadly-stealth-paper-bombs?"

Kurenai gave Naruto a flat look. "No, Naruto, these are…none of those things. Although your first guess was a bit closer to the ultimate goal of this. Here, each of you take one." As her team reached out to grab a slip of paper, Kurenai got herself into lecture mode. "Now, these are chakra paper. They show you, after you channel chakra into them, your natural chakra affinity. The elements to be controlled are fire, earth, water, lightning, and wind. Most Konoha shinobi have an affinity to fire, so be prepared for that. Now, sometimes people have secondary affinities as well, although this is rare, so don't be disappointed if you don't."

"Having an affinity towards a certain element means that you will learn techniques of that type exponentially easier." she continued, "While it is possible to learn techniques from the other elements, it will take much more time, and be much more difficult. Once you learn how to mold that specific chakra, however, it becomes easier."

"Now," she gave them all an encouraging look, "channel chakra into your papers, and let's see what elements you got."

As they put their chakra into their paper, Kurenai could only gawk at the unexpected results. Shino's paper crumbled into dust rather quickly and thoroughly, practically disintegrating in his fingers. This marked an extremely strong affinity towards earth, and complimented the Aburame style of outsmarting their opponents quite well, since his defenses would be boosted tremendously with earth jutsu on his side. Hinata's quickly grew soggy, dripping water onto the ground at her feet, before weakly scrunching inwards. A very strong primary element of water, with a weak secondary of lightning. This girl wasn't only a taijutsu powerhouse, but she had two elements? She could become one of the strongest Kunoichi in Konoha, if given the opportunity. Despite Hinata having two elements, Naruto's paper still surprised her the most. As soon as he channeled chakra into it, it had split down the middle. Naruto had jumped and released the paper, watching the two halves float to the ground. He looked at her questioningly, which she returned with a large smile. Oh, this was the _perfect_ gift for Asuma, he always went on and on about how he would never find another wind user to pass on his techniques to, and here was one placed on her squad!

"Really, really amazing." She said, drawing an excited smile from Naruto. "You all have extremely potent affinities towards your primaries, and you, Hinata, even had a secondary affinity! This is really a sensei's dream come true." She said, pride in her voice. Naruto puffed his chest out, grinning broadly.

"Yeah, all your teams after us aren't going to be able to stack up at all!" he exclaimed, laughing.

Kurenai froze. Oh god…he was right…she had used up all her luck getting this raw talent as her first team…

Looking depressed, to the confusion of Naruto, Kurenai reached into her pouch once again. "Now, I have scrolls with a few basic D-C rank jutsu for water, earth, and lightning." She said, passing the scrolls to Hinata and Shino. Naruto looked at her with devastated eyes. "Now now Naruto, you should feel lucky that I don't have any wind scrolls. Not only is it an incredibly rare affinity outside wind country, but you have to get special one-on-one training from a friend of mine, seeing as how he's the only other wind user in Konoha."

This put a smile on Naruto's face as he started to shake with excitement. He absolutely LOVED learning new techniques.

Hinata watched the unrestricted happiness playing on Naruto's face, and felt her heart swell. This, this was what she had wanted from the very beginning. His happiness.

 **OOOOOO *SEVERAL WEEKS LATER* OOOOOO**

Kurenai sat in down heavily in the small booth, while Anko immediately sat opposite her. It had been a good while since they had time off in the same timeframe, and they were grateful for the chance to catch up.

"So so, Kurenai-chan, tell me, how's this whole sensei business treating you?" Anko said, grinning sadistically at her longtime friend.

Kurenai chuckled. "To be honest, a lot better than I would have hoped. All three of them are talented in some way, and they show potential even in the areas they're lacking. What's more, is that they train even when I'm not the one running the session!"

Anko gave a low whistle. "It's been awhile since I've seen rookies with motivation. What drives them?"

Kurenai smiled, shaking her head at some inner thought. "It's not what, it's who." Anko gave her a questioning look, and Kurenai gave a short laugh. "One of my students, Uzumaki Naruto."

Anko raised an eyebrow. "That brat? How?"

Kurenai's look sobered up a bit as she took in Anko's expression. "Anko…I know this question may seem odd but…what do you think, of Naruto?"

Anko's eyebrow shot up even higher than before as she pondered her question. "He's a little brat. I ran into him one time in the shopping district while he was on his way to Ichiraku, declaring that ramen was the best. Pft, I corrected him of course, nothing even comes _close_ to dango. But that little twerp insulted dango, _MY DANGO!_ I chased him for about an hour after that, before he somehow gave me the slip."

Kurenai nodded, allowing her smile to slip back onto her face. "So he's just a normal boy, right?"

Anko grunted, turning away and crossing her arms. "As normal as a boy who doesn't love dango can be, I suppose. Why do you ask?"

Kurenai glanced around, before speaking in a lower tone. "You know about his… _guest,_ right?"

Anko nodded once, her eyes narrowing. "Yes, I do. And if you're suggesting to me that I would think differently of him because of something he had no part in controlling, I'm going to seriously reconsider our friendship." She hissed, clutching her neck absently.

Kurenai grimaced. "That's not what I meant by that…I just wanted…look, the majority of people treat Naruto like dirt, and I'm trying to find him allies. He deserves it, the way he inspires hard work in his team…and I'm told that he's been working with Shino, Shikamaru, Chouji, Sasuke, _and_ Hinata for several years now…"

Anko gave her a guarded look before relaxing again. "…I see. Can't say I'm surprised though, considering…well, considering past events. Anyway, training with all those clan heirs for so long is a pretty extraordinary feat, he seems like an influencial kid."

Kurenai nodded, taking a drink of the water their waiter had just left them. "And that's just the start. The kid can create shadow clones."

Anko whistled again, her eyebrows raising to her hairline. "Shadow clones? At 12? That's pretty impressive. What's his limit, two, three?"

Kurenai smirked. "…..400."

Anko spit the water she had been sipping all over the table. "Wh-wh-what did you just say?!"

Kurenai giggled, feeling extremely proud. "Yep, he can create 400 clones. And that's at once, I would say he could create close to 1000 if he only summoned a few at a time throughout the day."

Anko blinked once. Then twice. It was only after their waiter came asking for their order did she snap out of her stupor, quickly ordering a few sticks of dango before shooing him away.

"How…how is that possible?"

Kurenai took another drink of her water, looking thoughtful. "Well, I discussed it with Hokage-sama, and we have a few theories. The first is his…guest. His chakra coils would have had to expanded tremendously at a baby to contain the thing, and they've probably only grown with time. The second is his heritage."

Anko's eyebrows furrowed at this. "His heritage? Does Hokage-sama know who his parents are?"

Kurenai nodded, looking irritated. "Yes, and he refused to share that with me, despite my position as his sensei. Says the information is still too sensitive, and that Naruto needs to grow stronger to be able to handle it. Still, he said that the Uzumaki were a clan that were renowned for both their fuinjutsu, and their abnormally high chakra reserves, as well as their hardiness and long life expectancy."

Anko nodded, her face growing somber. "Ah, yeah. They founded Uzushiogakure, didn't they? I remember now…they were-"

"Wiped out, yes." Kurenai said sadly. "Hokage-sama thinks that a few stragglers exist in the world, but have either hidden themselves completely, or have fallen by this point. He also insisted that the other side of his heritage holds no survivors either, leaving him completely alone."

Anko shook her head sadly. She knew firsthand just how terrible that fate really was. "Poor kid…and he still finds it in himself to inspire confidence in others, eh?"

Kurenai nodded, a smirk crawling onto her face. "He even pulled off the impossible, on two counts."

Anko raised an eyebrow for what felt like the thousandth time. How much surprises were in store for her today? "Oh? Do tell."

"Well, the first is to do with Kakashi…" she said, noticing how Anko was now paying rapt attention to her. She grinned inwardly; she would have to take advantage of that crush as some point. "…he was on time when Naruto requested him for training."

Kurenai watched as Anko took an entire five seconds to register her words before her mouth fell open in obvious disbelief. "There's…there's no way…"

"Yep." Kurenai said, a self-satisfied smile on her face. Her student was really special, after all. "He also refers to him as Nii-san, and I've never seen Kakashi smile that much around _anyone_."

If Anko's mind wasn't made up before about getting acquainted with the boy, it was now. After all, anyone that could get the infamous Copy Ninja to be on time to _ANYTHING_ would be the stuff of legends later in their life.

"Not only that," Kurenai's voice sounded, pulling Anko from her musings, "But he made Asuma take his training seriously. Like, several hours of intense training, leaving you sweaty and collapsed on the ground serious."

Anko held her hand up, signaling Kurenai to stop talking. Kurenai looked confused at the unspoken request, but complied nonetheless.

"Kurenai…" Anko said, her eyes hidden by her bangs.

"Yes…?" Kurenai responded hestitanly, unnerved by her best friend's strange behavior.

Anko's eyes suddenly snapped to hers, and looked extremely thoughtful. "How old will I be when that gaki is legal…28? 16 is legal, right?" Kurenai watched in disbelief as she pondered the age gap between herself and the blonde.

"Anko..wha-what are you…NO!" she shouted, causing the tokubetsu jonin to look at her in mild annoyance. "What are you thinking? He's just a kid, sweet Kami."

Anko sniffed. "Well, from what you're saying, he's probably gonna be the best catch this village has seen since Kakashi himself. I got a knack for calling the lookers, and he'll grow up to be quite the hunk…"

"That's disgusting!" Kurenai said, horror evident in her voice.

"Hey, don't go assuming things!" Anko shouted back, now aware of the eyes trained on them from around the small restaurant. She snarled, turning to face them as she released a minor amount of killing intent. "What the fuck are you all looking at? Mind your own damn business!"

The civilians, which made up the majority of the populace in the establishment, quickly turned their heads down, muttering feeble apologies. The few shinobi knew of Anko's reputation, and turned back to their meals silently, shooting her furtive glances out of the corners of their eyes.

Anko sat back down, shooting a dirty look at Kurenai. "I never said I found him attractive right now, you asshole. I said that I can call the lookers, and that he'll _grow up_ to be good looking. I'm not some fucking pedophile Kurenai-chan, kami."

Kurenai nodded, looking guilty. "You're right, sorry Anko-chan. Either way though, now or later, you're gonna have serious difficulty getting any part of him."

"And why's that?" Anko said, scoffing. "Does he have some higher sense of calling that he will ignore any physical needs of his own? Because I found someone like that once, and once I had my tits wrapping around his cock he-"

"No no no that's not it at all!" Kurenai shouted, waving her hands in front of her. "And what did I say about sharing details about your exploits!"

Anko huffed and sat back, the excitement draining from her face. "What fun is it if I can't brag about it…" she mumbled.

Kurenai took a few gulps of her water before setting her glass down, feeling back in control of herself.

"Anyway," she began, "I was saying you'll have a hard problem due to the female on my team."

"Oh." Anko said, waggling her eyebrows. "Do you have a couple on your team?"

"No," Kurenai said, chuckling. "But I bet Hinata wishes that part. Very, very much."

"It's one-sided?" Anko asked, surprised.

"More due to lack of knowledge than lack of reciprocation." Kurenai said, chuckling again. "I swear, as kindhearted and strong as Naruto is, he wouldn't know affection is it was staring him in the face…which it is, half the time. And it's blushing."

Anko rolled her eyes. Guys could be so unbelievably dense, often at the worst possible times. Unfortunately for this Hinata girl, her entire life seemed to be the worst possible time in this scenario.

"Why don't you just hurry it along?" Anko asked, a serious look coming onto her face. "Our life expectancies aren't very long as it is. Why not grant them that bit of happiness before the Shinigami comes to collect them?"

"Because." Kurenai retorted firmly. "It will happen soon enough without me. He has to notice how different she is around him, and he's figure it out. He's smart…kind of."

Anko gave her a mischievous grin. "Sounds like you need someone to interfere a little…I'd be more than happy to push her to reveal her feelings, maybe give the gaki a little kiss on the cheek, a little back rub…hah, I can see her face now!" she chuckled at the look of jealousy and anger on the unknown girl's face. She had seen it before, it was absolutely priceless.

But for some reason, Kurenai didn't laugh with her. Instead she looked…uncomfortable?

"I wouldn't, if I were you, Anko-chan." Kurenai said, with slight fear in her voice. Anko's eyes narrowed, demanding answers.

"She's…a special breed." Kurenai said, wincing slightly. "Not only is she a Hyuuga, which means that she possesses the gentle fist, but she is… _very_ protective of Naruto. Scarily so. I have no doubt that you could take her if she attacked you, but…the intensity of it still frightens me a bit." She shivered, trying to dismiss the thoughts from her head. "She'll be one of the strongest Kunoichi this village has ever seen, I know it."

Anko shrugged. She didn't feel like trying to pick a fight with a possessive…future girlfriend? Unknown girlfriend? Either way, it wouldn't be the best way to get on the blondie's good side.

"Hmph. Sounds like you've had your hands full then." Anko commented dryly, idly cleaning her nails with a kunai she seemingly produced from thin air.

"More or less." Kurenai said, smiling at Anko. "You know, you can join us for training at any point in time…is that what you were waiting for?"

Anko's vicious smile answered her question, and she heaved a sigh. "You should have already known that…" she said, chuckling.

 **OOOOOO *THE FOLLOWING WEEK* OOOOOO**

Anko stood with her genin team in front of the Hokage, as he went through their mission count.

"Let's see….30, 31, 32…well, Kurenai, it seems you and your team have completed 33 D-rank missions this past week." Sarutobi said appreciatively. "That's quite a track record you have going."

Kurenai began to thank him when Naruto interrupted, rubbing underneath his nose and grinning like an idiot. "Haha, well Ojii-san, with teamwork like ours, plus my shadow clones, all this cleaning and moving is a piece of cake!"

Sarutobi chuckled, seeing Kurenai round on her student. "Now now, Kurenai, having pride in ones team does not necessarily call for punishment." He said, diffusing the situation.

Naruto, seeing his sensei start to back off a bit, decided to use the chance to ask the question he had been itching to the entire week. "Hey hey, Ojii-san, how about a mission that isn't picking up garbage! We're super strong, I promise! We even learned some elemental jutsu and stuff, so it's gonna be a piece of cake, I promise!"

Sarutobi waited for Kurenai to turn to Naruto again, but she didn't. Instead, she gave him a look that plainly said, 'I think they're ready, it's your call.'.

"Hmm…I daresay that can be arranged, Naruto-kun." Sarutobi said, leaning forward to ruffle the blonde's hair. Naruto's grin grew exponentially wider as he leapt into the air, shouting his success. Kurenai smiled, seeing the other two members of her team show their own subtle signs at happiness. After all, they had all been incredibly bored the past week. With their training being as intensive as it was, having copious amounts of free time while Naruto's clones took care of menial tasks that held no training value to them at all was grating on their nerves. They hadn't wanted to speak up, knowing that each genin was expected to do their share of the D-ranks, but they were glad Naruto had the audacity to speak up.

Sarutobi cleared his throat, and team 8 stared intently at him. "Now, it appears there's a large group of bandits harassing a village on the eastern border of the land of fire. They appear to be nothing but mercenaries, but any low-level ninja that happens to be among their ranks should be taken care of by each team's respective sensei."

Team 8 adopted a curious look, but surprisingly enough it was Shino that spoke up. "Hokage-sama, you said 'each team's', which leads me to believe that there will be another team accompanying us."

Hiruzen nodded. "You are right, Shino. You will be accompanied by Team Gai."

Naruto glanced at Hinata, noticing how her eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly. Normally he wasn't one for noticing small details, or for looking into people's emotions, but Hinata was special to him; not only had he known her the longest, she always appeared to care the most about him. As such, she was his special friend, his first and best, and he would always be there when she was in distress. This was one of those times.

He shuffled closer to her, bumping his shoulder lightly into hers while Sarutobi explained some of the more menial parameters of the mission. It was more stuff for their sensei anyway. Hinata's face immediately flushed lightly as she noticed just how close Naruto had gotten to her. Said blush deepened as he took her hand, hiding the joined appendages behind their backs. Hinata was having a hard time maintaining her stoic façade as she felt his thumb rub comfortingly against the back of her hand, while giving her that intense, worried gaze…

"It'll be ok, Hinata-chan." He whispered, giving her a small smile. "That jerk won't come anywhere near you."

Hinata grimaced, realizing she was found out, before nodding tightly. As strong as her affection of Naruto was, the disdain and disappointment she felt towards her cousin, Neji, was almost as strong. Ever since his father died, he had become cold and resentful towards the main branch of the clan, often trying in earnest to hurt her during sparring sessions. Worse still was his fate mentality, that each and every person had a certain fate, and there was nothing to divert from it. That subject had been broached with her about Naruto and…well, needless to say, she had stopped pitying her cousin.

Naruto noticed how she didn't stop brooding and frowned. It wasn't often that Hinata got into these kinds of moods, but when she did it was often very hard to break her out of them. Luckily, he had decided to confide in Kurenai with the subject, and she had seemed more than happy to broach the subject with him. As such, he had a few ideas to help her out of her rut…

"…..so be on the lookout for that. You leave two days from now, so take the rest of the day, as well as tomorrow off. Make sure you have proper supplies for a two week mission, as well as proper rest. Dismissed."

As Naruto walked from the tower, Hinata's hand still in his (much to the girl's simultaneous embarrassment and pleasure), his mind whirred into overdrive, planning out the next day. He suddenly whirled on the spot, startling Hinata.

"Hinata-chan." He said, concern in his voice. Hinata felt her breathe hitch a bit at his intensity, but kept her mask up. "I'm gonna go get things ready for tomorrow, but be ready for me outside your compound at like noon, ok?"

Hinata blinked owlishly. "Wh…what?"

Naruto smiled. "I said be ready for me at noon tomorrow. We're gonna go out and do stuff together, ok?" he gave her a thumbs up, before remembering one of the special phrases Kurenai had said would do wonders for her. "Oh, and just so you know, it's just the two us!"

Hinata blinked again, her face quickly darkening to critical levels. Was this…a…date? With Naruto-kun? Them? Alone?

Noon?

She had to get ready. She would be perfect. She _HAD TO BE PERFECT_.

Naruto careened backwards as Hinata rocketed off, leaving only a cloud of dust curiously shaped like her in her wake.

"Holy crap, I've never seen her move that fast!" Naruto said, awe in his voice. Kurenai to herself, knowing that the wheels were set in motion by her… _nudge_.

'I know I said you couldn't help, Anko, but I'm their sensei.' She thought, watching Naruto bid them goodbye as he ran into the direction of the Yamanaka flower shop. 'It's my responsibility to ensure their happiness. Probably. I'm gonna think that it is, otherwise I'll just be a hypocrite.'

Shino was speechless. Not only had almost all of his lines and insight been ignored throughout the day, it seemed like the entirety of exciting things were happening to the rest of his team. While Naruto and Hinata supposedly were spending the day together tomorrow, his sensei had a knowing look about her, and he could have sworn he saw some woman with purple hair spying on them from rooftops.

'What does Shikamaru always say…? Oh, right. Troublesome.'

* * *

Sorry this one is a bit shorter than the others, I've been playing Pokemon Go pretty heavily, which hasn't left me much time to write. As such, this chapter is a bit shorter than the others, due to me wanting to put one out before I leave for two weeks. This brings me to my schedule. I'm leaving for two weeks, then Ill be back for two or three days, and then I'm gone for another week and a half. I'll have time to write during this absence, just no internet to upload. That being said, I'll either have a chapter up in two weeks, or a month. It's easier to have it on alerts, just because of my erratic schedule. Sorry for that.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed, it truly means a lot to me, and each one that I get and read through my email (and once again, I read each and every one) pushes me to continue this story. That being said, besides the two reviews I'm going to address right now, if anyone has had one unaddressed, please either put it up for this chapter with your questions, or pm me. I haven't had the chance to really reply to them given the short amount of time I have to actually write, but when I put up the next chapter, I promise that if the review contains a question, I will answer it. I ask that you don't ask stupid shit, but hey, if that's what you want, go for it I suppose.

To the Guest with the lengthy review, thank you very much for it, especially the part dealing with the Aburame clan's insects. After reading it, I went and did some research, and rewrote that section with something a bit more fitting. I also really enjoy your ideas for missions, and I think I'll go that route a little further down. I'd credit you if I could, so if you'd like you can pm me or something along those lines and I'll hand out proper props.

 **SilentSambo88 –** Hello again, friend. Thanks for pointing out the above mentioned review, because I must have read it and placed it in the back of my mind, seeing as how I really noticed it thanks to you. Also, while his smell, plus his dog contract does allow for really good tracking, I always played it more to an anbu assassination standpoint. It was good for solo missions, but when it came to being on a team, he was more of the combat type, seeing as how he had so many jutsu copied. As such, plus Sharingan, he would have to teach Sasuke, who had no tracking ability whatsoever, meaning that he would take the combat team.

Thanks to you all for your unending patience with my terrible schedule, and I hope you enjoyed.

P.S. (man I love forgetting shit don't I) No time to edit this chapter since I'm already late for my friend's party, so if I fucked anything up, leave a review or pm so I can fix it when I get back later on down the road. Thanks for putting up with that too. Man, I really need a beta or something. I know some people before said they were interested, so if you are throw me a message and we can chat about it. Thanks everyone


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